EC probes 13 resellers over global optical disc drive CARTEL Thirteen optical disc drive resellers are being investigated by the EU on its suspicions that the firms may have broken antitrust laws and artificially suppressed the price they paid for the drives. The resellers are suspected of acting as a worldwide cartel for at least five years, the European Commission said, laying out its …
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
"IBM initially required that its customers use only IBM manufactured cards with IBM machines, which were leased, not sold. IBM viewed its business as providing a service and that the cards were part of the machine. In 1932 the government took IBM to court on this issue. IBM fought all the way to the Supreme Court and lost; the court ruling that IBM could only set card specifications. In another case, heard in 1955, IBM signed a consent decree requiring, amongst other things, that IBM would by 1962 have no more than one-half of the punched card manufacturing capacity in the United States. Tom Watson Jr.'s decision to sign this decree, where IBM saw the punched card provisions as the most significant point, completed the transfer of power to him from Thomas Watson, Sr."
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