Justice Department Examines New Microsoft Charges

The U.S. Justice Department is examining several Microsoft Corp. business practices that may lead to new antitrust charges against the software giant, sources familiar with the investigation said on Wednesday. Any of these charges would be entirely separate from current allegations -- now moving through both a U.S. District Court and an appellate court in Washington -- that Microsoft is in violation of a 1995 consent decree. But antitrust experts say the Justice Department will have to be cautious in filing any new charges, which would be much tougher to prove than the violation of a consent decree. Because a consent decree is a contract, the Justice

Department merely has to prove that Microsoft violated its agreement to make its allegations stick.