Attorneys for the US Justice Department go before a federal judge today to argue for the break-up of software giant Microsoft, a step lawyers for the company want the judge to summarily reject.

The hearing before US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson will focus on proposed remedies each side has put forward in writing to correct antitrust violations that Jackson last month ruled the company had committed.

Microsoft has offered to accept limitations on its business practices as a means of rectifying the violations found by the court, but still plans to appeal the original ruling.