Pitney Bowes Subject of Justice Dept. Probe

Pitney Bowes Inc., the world’s biggest postage meter maker, is under a Justice Department investigation to determine if it is trying to illegally fend off competition from online stamp sellers. The Justice Department issued demands for information from Pitney Bowes after it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against online rival E-Stamp Corp. E-Stamp said it received a similar request from the department on Pitney’s business practices. Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes, with $4.2 billion in sales last year, dominates the U.S. postage meter market. In November, it won federal approval to test its personal computer program ClickStamp, which allows users to buy postage over the Internet and print it using a PC. Now it’s suing E-Stamp and Stamps.com Inc. for infringing patents it uses for ClickStamp. “Pitney Bowes strongly believes that we have complied fully with the antitrust laws and are confident that this inquiry will be resolved favorably,” spokeswoman Sheryl Battles said. Pitney Bowes shares fell $1.88 to close at $65.31 on the NYSE. E-Stamp received U.S. Postal Service permission in March 1998 to test its online program. In both the E-Stamp and Stamps.com cases, Pitney Bowes said it thinks the companies are infringing patents it began filing in the 1980s.