John Lewis ups the Tempo with OFT in PC war

John Lewis and Tempo have again met with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in an attempt to persuade the regulator to intervene in an exclusive distribution deal between Dixons and two PC vendors.

John Lewis made its third appeal to the OFT last week in its battle to fight the exclusive deals that Dixons has signed with Packard Bell and Compaq to be their sole retailer offering certain PC models of Compaq and Packard Bell kit (CRN, 12 April). Backed by Tempo, the retail giant asked the OFT to issue an injunction against Packard Bell to stop it cutting off PC supplies to Dixons's high street rivals.

An OFT representative confirmed it had met John Lewis and Tempo officials. He said the companies had indicated they would submit fresh evidence to the OFT on Dixons's high street dominance, but no time frame was given.

"We are on a fact-finding mission, but we need reasonable suspicion of wrong-doing before launching any new inquiry," he said.

The OFT had already ruled out reopening an investigation into high street competition, and an earlier study publishing the conclusions of John Bridgeman, director general of fair trading, found that "no individual retailer or vendor has market power in the home PC market".

Nigel Brotherton, administration director at John Lewis, has said that the retailer is confident it has presented "powerful arguments" to the OFT.

However, John Clare, chief executive at Dixons, is on record as claiming that the market for PCs is "highly competitive".