9th Circuit Denies FTC’s Emergency Motion to Stay Consummation of Microsoft/Activision

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a Friday order, denied the FTC’s emergency motion for a “temporary pause” in the consummation of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy. Its denial permitted the district court’s temporary restraining order that had enjoined the merger from being consummated to expire at 11:59 p.m. PDT Friday night.

The order cited the 9th Circuit’s 1984 decision in FTC v. Warner Communications as defining the standard by which the commission may obtain a preliminary injunction.

The order said the existing briefing schedule remains in effect on the FTC’s 9th Circuit appeal of the district court’s July 10 denial of its motion for an injunction to block the Microsoft/Activision transaction from going through. The commission’s mediation questionnaire is due Monday and its opening brief is due Aug. 9. The Microsoft/Activision answering brief is due Sept. 6, and the FTC’s optional reply is due 21 days later.