EU in contact with U.S on IBM investigation

BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday it was assisting an antitrust investigation into technology services company IBM by the U.S. Justice Department but had not launched a formal probe of its own.

The Department of Justice said on Wednesday it was looking into allegations that IBM abused its dominant position in the mainframe computer market by trying to squeeze out rivals.

"We are in contact with the DoJ but it is not like there is some kind of joint investigation," Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the 27-country European Union's executive Commission, said.

U.S. computer firm T3 Technologies Inc filed a complaint with the European antitrust watchdog in January, accusing IBM of abusing its power in the mainframe computer industry.

T3 Technologies said IBM was preventing sales of competing mainframes by tying the sale of its operating system to its own such hardware, and withholding patent licenses.

Todd said the EU executive had not launched a formal investigation following T3's allegation, although it had been looking at the sector after a complaint by Platform Solutions Inc in 2007.

That complaint was dropped when IBM, the world's largest technology services firm, acquired Platform Solutions in July 2008. The Commission said it was still pursuing the matter.