PlayStation Accuses Microsoft Of ‘Harassment’ In Court Battle

THE struggle to get Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard on the line don’t just play government watchdogs and in the public eye, but also in courtrooms. And in one of those battlegrounds, Microsoft is asking rival Sony that it believes the latter constitutes “obvious harassment.”

Via The Axios newslettera series of court documents have been filed over the past two weeks detailing some of the legal skirmishes currently taking place between Microsoft, which is keen to complete the blockbuster deal, and Sony, which is one of many companies and organizations that are absolutely don’t want that to happen.

These particular filings relate to Sony’s attempts to fight the proposed sale, and that as part of their defense, Microsoft has the right to “Discovery,” which is basically letting them get their hands on a bunch of documents and emails from some Sony executives. The two companies have been negotiating for ages over how many executives this will include and the scope of the discovery, but things took a turn earlier this month when Microsoft accused Sony of stalling firstwithout providing all the information they might need:

Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) – whose gaming business eclipsed that of Xbox for 20 years – is no ordinary third party in this action. At great expense and over an extended period, SIE deployed executive delegations, large teams of outside lawyers, and top economists to persuade regulators here and around the world to block Microsoft Corp.

(“Microsoft”) has proposed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. SIE’s efforts are paying off: The FTC’s complaint in this action is replete with allegations about the effects the agreement will have on SIE’s business. This case concerns SIE as much as Xbox and Activision. Rapid discovery of the EIS is therefore critical to Microsoft’s defense.

Although SIE’s motion for an extension of time complains about the magnitude of the subpoena and the length of the extensions already granted to respond to that subpoena, Microsoft has already told SIE that it will consent to a fourth extension of time. to negotiate issues related to the scope of subpoena requests. But Microsoft believes court intervention is now needed on one issue: whether SIE will collect and produce documents from certain custodians.

In response, Sony said they hadn’t provided all of the information requested by Microsoft because they were asked too much, including things like access to internal benchmarks, something Sony says “is obvious harassment”, and that “even in labor courts require a specific demonstration of relevance before requiring the production of personal records.

This is all only moderately interesting, I know, but I’m bringing this up mainly so we can just tie the two together. Microsoft And sony motions, which are full of incredible self-properties, like Microsoft saying that PlayStation’s success “trumped Xbox’s for 20 years,” as well as very funny words in Sony’s filing, like how they say that Microsoft’s subpoena was, like, “really massive”.

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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.