At issue in IBM Corp’s suits against seven companies operating in the 3174 upgrade market (CI No 2,032) are boards that turn the thing from a 32-port to a 64-port unit, which in the case of the defendents alledgedly involved picking up 32-port boards on the used market, changing a jumper, removing a component or two and adding one or two others, and changing the IBM copyright microcode that characterises the board; IBM also alleges that the boards were fitted with the IBM cover with the appropriate sticker on it; IBM reckons that there are 200,000 3174s out there; lawsuits from IBM 3174 memory upgrades are now expected any day.
