The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday increased the amount Hitachi Metals Ltd. must pay a former researcher who invented a method of making permanent magnets.

The amount was raised by some 1.35 million yen from the level set by a lower court to 12.6 million yen. Both Hitachi Metals and the former researcher had appealed to the high court over last August's ruling by the Tokyo District Court, which ordered the Tokyo-based firm to pay Masao Iwata 11.3 million yen.

Iwata had demanded 89 million yen for the transfer of his invention's patent rights.