High Cost of Microsoft Case

The Justice Department said Wednesday it has spent $12.6 million, less than one-tenth of 1% of its budget for such matters, in litigation against Microsoft Corp. since late 1989. The department’s antitrust division has brought a landmark antitrust case against Microsoft, and Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is due to release the first of several decisions on the case soon. It spent $4.8 million litigating the case in fiscal 1998. The following fiscal year, through Feb. 26, 1999, it spent $1.62 million on the case. The department provided information on costs in answer to questions from Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.).