EU begins IBM anti-trust probes

Dylan Bushell-Embling
28 Jul 2010
00:00

The European Commission has launched two separate antitrust probes into IBM over allegations of illegal mainframe marketing practices.

The Commission alleges that IBM illegally tied sales of mainframe hardware with its mainframe operating system, and of discriminatory practices regarding maintenance services.

Emulator software vendors T3 and Turbo Hercules had claimed that IBM's bundling practices have prevented them from enabling IBM's OS to run on non-IBM hardware, the EC said.

The second investigation, initiated by the commission, will examine whether IBM is keeping competitors out of the mainframe maintenance market by restricting access to spare parts made solely by IBM.

IBM has denied any wrongdoing, stating that it was just defending its intellectual property rights.

The company said the investigation is the result of complaints from Microsoft and its “satellite companies,” referring to that Microsoft’s investment in T3, FT.comsaid.

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