
C'thulhu help me, I agree with the decision.
Company A makes a product and it costs them $5.00 to make it. The give it to Company B on consignment so that they can sell it on and give Company A $12.00 as their cut of the sale. If Company B then looses the card they had on consignment, then they are liable *for the amount Company A would have received*.
Accepting things on consignment is great for Company B as it means they do not have to actually purchase the goods from Company A, only pass back an agreed amount on each sale. The downside is, Company B agrees to pay Company that amount - not the production costs.
Same thing here. Sony sent some HW on consignment to be sold on to Games. If the middleman looses the HW, they are liable for the amount that Sony would have gotten out of the sale. The distributor took a bet (that nothing would happen to the consignment) and lost, and now they want to be let off the hook?
I am not a great lover of Sony (so-so hardware, lousy attitude) but this sort of "want my cake and eat it too" attitude just pisses me off. You want the returns, you gotta pay the price when things don't go your way.