The judge's decision in the private class-action litigation has no effect on the separate federal antitrust suit in Washington.

The private litigation promises to be a marathon effort.

One respected economist suggests that the government could just walk away and leave remedies to private litigation.

In this case private litigation would probably be more appropriate.

And it was granted relief from most liability - not just the state lawsuits but private litigation as well.

"There is a group of about a dozen law firms out there who do nearly all of the private litigation," he said.

The suit marks the beginning of what legal experts say could be a wave of private litigation against Microsoft.

But armed with the regulators' findings, lawyers are sure to seek many times that total in private litigation.

But the only principle at issue is whether he should be spending the taxpayers' money for private litigation.

But any successful S.E.C. case could also make private litigation far more likely.