Mass., W. Virginia Ask Microsoft to Cover Fees

Massachusetts and West Virginia are seeking $2.3 million from Microsoft Corp. to reimburse their legal expenses for joining the U.S. government’s antitrust suit against the world’s largest software maker.

But the states asked U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to delay ruling on the request while they appeal her refusal last month to impose tougher restrictions than Microsoft accepted in settling the government’s case.

Under federal law, the winning side in a civil case is entitled to seek reimbursement from the loser, and a judge may determine what are fair and reasonable expenses.

Shortly after the judge approved the antitrust settlement between Microsoft and the Department of Justice, the company’s top lawyer approached the California attorney general’s office with an offer to pay the legal fees of the states that agreed not to appeal the decision, according to people familiar with the conversations. Microsoft also offered to provide an additional pot of funds for the states to help enforce the settlement deal, the Washington Post reported.

After some deliberations, California -- which had agreed to bear most of the states’ legal costs to challenge the agreement -- decided to accept the offer, along with six other states and the District of Columbia. Last month, they announced that Microsoft would pay them a total of $25 million in legal fees, plus $3.6 million for technical experts and other resources to help enforce the settlement.

Under the settlement approved by Kollar-Kotelly, Microsoft must give computer makers freedom to promote software programs that compete with Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and other products made by the software leader.

Only Massachusetts and West Virginia decided to appeal the judge’s ruling. Microsoft has vowed not only to fight their appeal, but to challenge the amount the states contend they are entitled to recover from the long-running litigation.

“Massachusetts and West Virginia each is a sovereign entity that filed suit against Microsoft because of the harm to the citizens and general economy of their states caused by Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices,” the two states said.

They requested reimbursement for 5,953 hours of lawyers’ time.

Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler declined to comment.

Microsoft shares fell 12 cents to close at $54.36 in Nasdaq trading Tuesday.