Microsoft-ActivisionBlizzard merger goes into UK regulatory hearing with growing support, dwindling resistance
Summary
On LinkedIn, Jacob Parry wrote: I tweeted about that (as Im in the process of implementing the new editorial policy for FOSS Patents), just like Twitter was also the first platform on which I published Microsofts reply brief that reinforces their motion to dismiss the so-called gamers lawsuit in the Northern District of California (filed on Friday by Pacific Time). Ive updated my timeline chart in light of the exact dates of the UK hearings (click on the image to enlarge): Due to the high density of events this week (two response hearings, FTC discovery milestone, opposition to motion for preliminary injunction), I had to use different colors: orange for the private lawsuit in San Francisco, green for the FTCs adjudicative proceeding, and blue for the CMAs merger review. Now theres a whole new stakeholder category that has spoken out: the 60 Plus Association, a non-profit advocacy group representing the interests of senior citizens, contributed an opinion piece to the Washington Examiner that calls on the FTC to settle the case. It has previously been said that the FTC accelerated its in-house lawsuit against Microsofts purchase of Activision Blizzard King just to dissuade the European Commission from working out a remedies-based solution. I shared (on Twitter) the news of the FTCs Within withdrawal, and predicted a similar end of its Activision Blizzard challenge, to which Professor Herbert Hovenkamp replied that he "do[es]nt understand the strategy of bringing these cases, and likely losing, prior to new Merger Guidelines": Other academics chimed in as well.
