Some Microsoft fans are worried about where the Activision deal is going as San Francisco, California District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley still hasn’t released her decision on the injunction to block the deal. This has prompted Florian Mueller, who has followed patent cases for years and has also closely followed this one, to address everyone’s concerns.
First off, what would happen if the decision does arrive after July 18? July 18 is the deadline that Microsoft and Activision set to close the deal, and not meeting it would not make either company’s shareholders all that happy. There had been a lot of talk about the fee MS would have to pay, but the situation could also lead shareholders to remove their support for the deal to push through.
So the big sticking point here is the TRO, the literal court order that is stopping them from closing the deal right now. Microsoft and Activision could ask the court to lift the TRO, and if Judge Corley’s court denies it, they could go to an appeals court on an emergency motion.
Now, based on the date the TRO was issued, which was June 13, 2023, that order would have been in place only for two weeks. If it was extended, it could only have been extended to a month’s time, which would be today, July 10, 2023. The only way the TRO could go for longer than that date is the highly unlikely scenario that Microsoft agreed to it.
If Microsoft does not take these emergency actions, the normal procedure requires Judge Corley to release her decision by today. That would give either party enough time to appeal the decision.
Under this normal process, the TRO goes away either because Judge Corley denied the injunction, or she upgrades the block from a TRO to an injunction. The injunction isn’t a permanent block, but because it would be in effect for as long as three years, it would make the whole deal unfeasible, and that’s why it would effectively kill it.
But in general, as Florian pointed out, we have to assume that Judge Corley understands the urgency of her decision. It was the reason that she scheduled the case to be heard as soon and as quickly as they could do it. She also promised that there would be sufficient time for an appeal from either party. That means they get to have five business days from Microsoft’s and Activision’s deadline.
