A U.S. administrative law judge has denied Microsoft‘s request to force Sony to produce more documents as part of its ongoing fight with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the Activision Blizzard deal. Although the merger has been completed, the FTC is still disputing the transaction, and in the odd chance that it wins, Microsoft may be forced to divest.
Microsoft accuses Sony of actively campaigning against Activision Blizzard deal
In a recent court filing, Microsoft expressed its disappointment over Sony’s ongoing campaign against the Activision deal, arguing that the company produced a “cherry-picked” document in response to an FTC subpoena in order to oppose the transaction. The Xbox maker added that it was “entitled to take discovery to test SIE’s assertions and seeks a narrow, targeted production of documents from SIE related to the Microsoft-Sony Agreement.”
That motion has now been denied by judge Michael Chappell, who noted in his order that fact discovery in this matter closed in April 2023. Not only did Microsoft fail to request reopening of discovery, the company took it upon itself to serve an unauthorized subpoena to Sony, which isn’t legally enforceable. As a result, Sony can’t be compelled to produce the documents Microsoft demanded.
The fight continues…
