Microsoft is going through a subpoena for hundreds of thousands of paperwork in Google’s antitrust case

The sweeping federal antitrust case in opposition to Google has given rise to a major struggle over knowledge held by Microsoft, and the corporate is now going through a subpoena for hundreds of thousands of paperwork that might make clear its makes an attempt to compete with Google’s search engine. Having initially cooperated with prosecutors in constructing an antitrust case in opposition to Google, Microsoft could possibly be obligated to supply hundreds of thousands extra paperwork on the request of Google’s protection crew.

At a standing listening to on Friday morning, Judge Amit Mehta heard arguments from each Google and Microsoft on the problem, however in the end discovered extra data was required earlier than the courtroom may give steering as to how a lot inside knowledge Microsoft could be required to supply.

“These are hard issues for any judge to resolve in a way that’s objective and meaningful,” Mehta instructed attorneys, “and that’s particularly so given that, with respect to the additional custodians, I don’t have any sense of the volume that would produce … or what that volume would mean for the timing of production.”

Filed in October 2020, the Department of Justice’s antitrust case in opposition to Google focuses on anti-competitive conduct in search and search promoting, alleging amongst different claims that the corporate’s exclusivity agreements on Android and iOS shut out competing search engines like google. Separate antitrust circumstances in opposition to Google have additionally been filed specializing in the corporate’s browser privateness settings and alleged manipulation of search outcomes.

In advance of the Department of Justice submitting costs, Microsoft supplied greater than 400,000 paperwork to civil investigative calls for from prosecutors. In a submitting earlier than at the moment’s listening to, Google argued that participation entitles the corporate to an analogous vary of paperwork that is likely to be useful to its protection.

“No third party is more central to this litigation than Microsoft. The DOJ and Colorado Complaints refer to it or its products dozens of times,” Google’s submitting reads. “Having so obviously pressed for and cooperated in the preparation of the present Complaints to be filed against Google, Microsoft cannot credibly avoid significant discovery in these cases.”

Google first issued a subpoena to Microsoft in April, in search of “older documents that will shed light on whether Microsoft was actually restrained from competing with Google, or whether it simply failed to compete successfully on the merits.” But Microsoft agreed to solely eight of the 27 executives to be searched, and drastically restricted the search strings to which they’d be topic. Google is now asking for a extra highly effective courtroom order to compel the manufacturing of paperwork from Microsoft.

In an appendix to its submitting, Google listed 19 present and former Microsoft executives who could maintain communications related to the case, together with former Windows Phone chief Andrew Lees and former Windows head Terry Myerson.

“These executives cover issues at the core of the case: the development and distribution of Microsoft’s various search engines, Microsoft’s search advertising business, and Microsoft’s effort to market devices that would give it yet more search access points beyond the ever-present Windows desktop,” the submitting reads. “Google simply seeks discovery commensurate with Plaintiffs’ allegations, which reach back two decades.”

In its own filing, Microsoft pushed again in opposition to this logic, arguing Google is submitting unnecessarily broad requests in an effort to moreover delay the case. “In the past nine days, in fact, Google has proposed seventeen additional custodians,” Microsoft’s submitting claims, “including nine on July 19, five on July 26, and three today, July 27. Google has not explained why it believes searching these additional twenty-eight custodians … is necessary.”

Weighing the 2 arguments, the courtroom appeared to barely favor Google’s facet of the case, however in the end requested for extra knowledge on the burden required to supply the paperwork. “The description of the people [Google has] identified as additional custodians certainly struck me as not reaching,” Judge Mehta mentioned, “and I haven’t heard Microsoft say today that there’s minimal chance that they’re likely to have records at all that are responsive and relevant.”

However, the courtroom in the end discovered there was inadequate details about the burden posed by manufacturing, and the dispute is prone to proceed a minimum of till August twentieth, the deadline set for additional filings on the topic.

“The best I can do for you today is to give you a deadline by which to get back to me with concrete information,” Judge Mehta instructed the events.

The discovering is yet another flip in what’s prone to be an extended and contentious discovery interval for the antitrust case. Microsoft says it believes the primary part of its personal doc manufacturing will final till a minimum of October of this 12 months. Trial proceedings for US v. Google are scheduled to start on September twelfth, 2023.