The fight to get Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard offer over the line not just with government watchdogs and in the public eye, but in the courtroom as well. And in one of those battlegrounds, Microsoft is making claims against rival Sony that it later says constitutes “apparent harassment.”
Through Axios’ newsA series of court documents have been filed over the past few weeks detailing some of the ongoing legal conflicts between Microsoft, which wants to close the blockbuster deal, and Sony, one of a number of companies and organizations. I absolutely don’t want this to happen.
These specific filings are about Sony’s efforts to combat the proposed sale, and as part of their defense, Microsoft reserves the right to “discover”, which basically just allowed them to get hold of a large amount of documents and emails from a handful of Sony executives. Both companies have long been haggling over the number of executives to include and the scope of discovery, but things changed earlier this month when Microsoft accuses Sony of first stallingand then don’t provide all the information they might need:
Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”)—whose games business has dominated Xbox for 20 years—is no ordinary third party in this act. At great expense and over a long period of time, SIE deployed delegations of executives, various groups of outside lawyers and expensive economists to persuade the regulators here and worldwide prevent Microsoft Corp.
(“Microsoft”) has proposed to acquire Activision Blizzard King. SIE’s efforts are paying off: The FTC’s claims in this case are filled with allegations about the effects the deal will have on SIE’s business. This case is about SIE as much as it is about Xbox and Activision. Therefore, timely detection from SIE is very important to protect Microsoft.
Although the SIE’s request for an extension complained about the scope of the subpoena and the length of time the extensions were granted for the SIE to respond to that subpoena, Microsoft told SIE it would agree. a fourth extension of time to negotiate issues related to the scope of the subpoena’s request. But Microsoft believes that court intervention is now needed on one issue: whether the SIE collects and generates documents from certain custodians.
In response, Sony said that it did not provide all the information Microsoft requested because it was requested road too much, including things like access to internal performance reviews, which Sony says is “clear harassment” and that “even in employment cases, courts require require specific demonstration of suitability before requiring the presentation of personnel records”.
All of that is just a little bit of fun, I know, but I’m mainly putting this up so we can tie the two together. Microsoft And by Sony motion, filled with some incredible selves, such as Microsoft saying that the PlayStation’s success “overwhelmed Xbox for 20 years,” along with some very funny wording in Sony’s profile, like the way they say Microsoft’s subpoena, such as, “really big”.
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Update 5:22am ET, February 10: Removed mention of the “MOTION TO LIMIT OR QUASH SUBPOENA” as the matter is still ongoing.
