Microsoft Lawsuit Costs Taxpayers $13.3 Million

The Justice Department’s landmark antitrust trial and earlier legal actions against the Microsoft Corp. have cost $13.3 million over the past decade, the department said Wednesday in its first public accounting.

The figure includes about $7 million investigating and suing Microsoft in the trial pending before U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, described as among the most significant business lawsuits in decades. The first phase of a two-part verdict could come this month.

Experts described the $7 million as paltry compared with the expense of other major antitrust cases, where costs easily can run $750,000 each month. Justice opened the current case in June 1995.

The government disclosures came in response to a written demand from Washington state’s Republican Sen. Slade Gorton. The figures did not include money spent by the 19 states suing the company along with Justice; attorneys general in those states have denied requests for such information.