I.B.M. Request Is Opposed

The New York Times

June 27, 1994

An association representing 200 companies that maintain computers has asked a Federal judge to reject I.B.M.'s request that it be freed from a 1956 court order that limits its computer services businesses.

The Independent Service Network International said the order allowed independent computer maintenance companies to form because it required I.B.M. to sell parts and documentation to such companies. The motion is the first to oppose I.B.M.'s effort to end the court restrictions.

Claudia Betzner, executive director of the Atlanta-based trade group, said on Friday that I.B.M. now provides parts and training on an equal basis to service providers of all sizes. If the consent decree is dropped, I.B.M. executives "can set rates higher for independents than they do for other people or themselves," she said. More than half the group's 200 members maintain I.B.M. equipment.

Copyright 1994 The New York Times Company