After judge Jacqueline Scott Corley gave Microsoft the go-ahead to purchase Activision Blizzard during the recent Federal Trade Commission court case, the FTC has now filed an appeal against the judge’s ruling. While the appeal has already been filed, the full arguments won’t be made available to the public until it’s submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
According to The Verge, the FTC has filed an appeal against judge Corley for allowing the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal to go through. However, it needs the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to send out an emergency stay to extend the temporary restraining order set to expire on 14 July. If it doesn’t rule before the deal’s deadline on 18 July, this would allow Microsoft to successfully close the deal soon without a restraining order in place.
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Microsoft president Brad Smith has called out the FTC’s appeal for being “demonstrably weak”, stating:
“The District Court’s ruling makes crystal clear that this acquisition is good for both competition and consumers. We’re disappointed that the FTC is continuing to pursue what has become a demonstrably weak case, and we will oppose further efforts to delay the ability to move forward.”
The recent publicised court case saw the FTC attempt to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which also involved PlayStation’s Jim Ryan and other parties that were in direct opposition to the deal. Despite the arduous process, judge Corley eventually ruled in favour of the acquistion, stating:
“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services.”
All legal proceedings with UK watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been paused for the time being.
Source: The Verge
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