Fun_People Archive
10 Jul
DOJ agrees to end IBM consent decree

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 96 09:24:07 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: DOJ agrees to end IBM consent decree

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Forwarded-by: Eric Hendrickson <edh@lenti.med.umn.edu>
Forwarded-by: "Erik E. Rantapaa" <rantapaa@math.umn.edu>

	http://www.pcweek.com/news/0701/02eibm.html

DOJ agrees to end IBM consent decree
	-- by Margaret Kane

	The federal government and IBM agreed today to end a 40-year-old
	decree against the computer giant.

	The 1956 consent decree between the Department of Justice and IBM,
	of Armonk, N.Y., resulted in several restrictions on the company
	that were designed to prevent it from becoming a monopoly in the
	computer industry.

	Some of the restrictions on IBM's AS/400 line will be terminated
	within six months of a judge's approval, and the rest four years
	later. The restrictions on the S/390 line will be phased out in
	five years.

	"While we continue to believe the consent decree should be
	terminated immediately, this settlement allows us to move ahead
	without spending further time and money in litigation," said IBM
	General Counsel Lawrence Ricciardi.  "We have been under
	restrictions 40 years already, and it's time to move on."

© 1996 Peter Langston