How many lawsuits has Microsoft lost?

Question

Anyone counting?

Answer 1

An equally improtant (if not more so) question:

How many have they *settled*, and what did it cost them?

Most civil lawsuits are settled, rather than won/lost. For those, there's not really a winner or loser - just a settlement. Quite often, the terms of the settlement are sealed by the court, or never even *filed* with the court - just a "this has been resolved privately, suit dropped" motion by both parties.

For the patent-infringement types of lawsuits that Microsoft often hits, the terms of a settlement usually boil down to "cash payment corresponding to how much the licensing would have cost, plus a promise to license it for future use" - and the company can claim a victory because they won money - and Microsoft can spin it as victory too, because when you're sitting on $40B in cash reserves, paying $50M to resolve a lawsuit and have a stable, predictable playing field is worth it if it keeps a patent lawsuit from derailing a major product development...

Answer 2

Three I know of the last in 2002