The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom attempted to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has filed an appeal against the CMA, scheduled to be heard in July.
On Tuesday, an announcement regarding the matter was made during a meeting regarding case management.
According to what Judge Marcus Smith had to say about the matter, “the hearing of the substance of this application will take place in the fortnight commencing July 24, so the weeks commencing the 24th and 31st of July,” respectively. “I’m not expecting it to take all those 10 days, but I would prefer the parties to err on the side of longer rather than shorter oral presentations.” “I’m not anticipating it to take all those 10 days. It appears that this is a luxury we can give ourselves.”
In addition to this, he stated, “There is a tendency, and it is driven by the Tribunal rather than the parties, to cut submissions to shorter lengths than they ought to be.” In this particular instance, I wish to do the opposite. I want to make sure that the parties realize that we will want to give them every chance to unravel the complexities of this case in oral submissions and that we will want to give ourselves enough time to do so.
Microsoft claims that the CMA has failed on five grounds, one of which is that it made “fundamental errors in its assessment of the Applicant’s current position in cloud gaming services.”
Microsoft has begun to concentrate its efforts on its appeal while simultaneously preparing for its case against the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft to prevent the completion of the transaction.
If Microsoft is successful in its appeal, the company will be required to seek approval from the CMA. The EU only recently approved the agreement; shortly after that, the CMA issued a statement defending itself.
What is the outcome of Microsoft’s appeal against the decision made by the UK CMA in July?
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