A small Florida maker of mainframe computers says it will file Tuesday an antitrust complaint against International Business Machines Corp. in Europe, alleging that the high-tech giant boxed it out of the market by refusing to sell its customers the operating software to run its machinesThe complaint, which asks European Union regulators to bring an investigation, would extend a legal battle continuing in the U.S. and put further focus on Europe's scrutiny of big business. EU regulators used similar legal principles in charges made against Microsoft Corp. last week. Microsoft has said it is studying the charges and committed to "full compliance" with European law.
T3 Technologies Inc., of Tampa, Fla., had $10 million to $20 million in annual sales until 2006, says its president, Steven Friedman. Then, he says, late that year IBM stopped licensing technology to a key T3 supplier, and stopped selling operating-software licenses to T3 customers. His sales collapsed.
IBM declined to comment.
Mainframes are the workhorses of the computer world -- made for managing complex jobs such as credit-card transactions. They were once made by dozens of companies including Amdahl Corp., Control Data Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., Honeywell and NCR Corp. Now IBM sells the vast majority of them.
T3 is one of the last survivors. It builds machines using off-the-shelf components fitted with "emulators" to make software believe it is running on an IBM mainframe. Mr. Friedman says T3's machines can do the job cheaper than IBM's.
A key element of T3's complaint is the concept of "tying" -- T3 says IBM won't sell mainframe software separately from its own hardware. For a potential mainframe purchaser "there is only one company you can go to, and that is IBM," Mr. Friedman says.
EU antitrust officials last week charged Microsoft with anticompetitive behavior, alleging that the company harmed competition in the Web browser market by tying Internet Explorer to its Windows operating system.
T3 may face an uphill battle convincing regulators that they should require IBM to license its software to T3's customers. Such a compulsory license faces a high burden in EU case law. What's more, potential customers have plenty of choices for computing beyond the mainframe.
T3 has also tangled with IBM in U.S. federal court. In an ongoing case, IBM has alleged patent infringement against T3, which has accused IBM of antitrust abuses.
That case stems from a legal scuffle between IBM and an emulator maker, Platform Solutions Inc. T3 joined that case on Platform Solutions' side because it used the company's technology. Platform Solutions had also complained to the EU about IBM, along similar lines as T3. But IBM bought Platform Solutions last year, putting an end to its EU complaint.
EU regulators examine complaints from private parties, but they aren't obligated to bring cases.
An EU spokesman, Jonathan Todd, declined to comment on T3's expected filing. Mr. Todd said that though Platform Solutions withdrew its complaint against IBM, the EU has "continued to look at the sector on our own initiative."
IBM's mainframe marketing was under U.S. judicial oversight for decades, following a 1956 consent decree.
T3 Technologies Inc., of Tampa, Fla., had $10 million to $20 million in annual sales until 2006, says its president, Steven Friedman. Then, he says, late that year IBM stopped licensing technology to a key T3 supplier, and stopped selling operating-software licenses to T3 customers. His sales collapsed.
IBM declined to comment.
Mainframes are the workhorses of the computer world -- made for managing complex jobs such as credit-card transactions. They were once made by dozens of companies including Amdahl Corp., Control Data Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., Honeywell and NCR Corp. Now IBM sells the vast majority of them.
T3 is one of the last survivors. It builds machines using off-the-shelf components fitted with "emulators" to make software believe it is running on an IBM mainframe. Mr. Friedman says T3's machines can do the job cheaper than IBM's.
A key element of T3's complaint is the concept of "tying" -- T3 says IBM won't sell mainframe software separately from its own hardware. For a potential mainframe purchaser "there is only one company you can go to, and that is IBM," Mr. Friedman says.
EU antitrust officials last week charged Microsoft with anticompetitive behavior, alleging that the company harmed competition in the Web browser market by tying Internet Explorer to its Windows operating system.
T3 may face an uphill battle convincing regulators that they should require IBM to license its software to T3's customers. Such a compulsory license faces a high burden in EU case law. What's more, potential customers have plenty of choices for computing beyond the mainframe.
T3 has also tangled with IBM in U.S. federal court. In an ongoing case, IBM has alleged patent infringement against T3, which has accused IBM of antitrust abuses.
That case stems from a legal scuffle between IBM and an emulator maker, Platform Solutions Inc. T3 joined that case on Platform Solutions' side because it used the company's technology. Platform Solutions had also complained to the EU about IBM, along similar lines as T3. But IBM bought Platform Solutions last year, putting an end to its EU complaint.
EU regulators examine complaints from private parties, but they aren't obligated to bring cases.
An EU spokesman, Jonathan Todd, declined to comment on T3's expected filing. Mr. Todd said that though Platform Solutions withdrew its complaint against IBM, the EU has "continued to look at the sector on our own initiative."
IBM's mainframe marketing was under U.S. judicial oversight for decades, following a 1956 consent decree.
The Wall Street Journal
