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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES

In the Matter of

Microsoft Corp. 

a corporation; 

and 

Activision Blizzard, Inc.

a corporation. 

Docket No. 9412 

RESPONDENTS’ NOTICE OF OPPOSITION TO COMPLAINT COUNSEL’S 

REQUEST FOR EXPEDITED BRIEFING

Earlier today, Complaint Counsel filed a Motion to Extend Fact Discovery and Request for 

Expedited Briefing (“the Motion”). Respondents Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard, Inc. 

intend to oppose the Motion, which conspicuously omits any mention of the reasonable and 

comprehensive discovery Respondents offered to Complaint Counsel in an effort to resolve this 

dispute without burdening the Court. As Respondents intend to explain, there is no basis for the 

further burdensome and unnecessary discovery Complaint Counsel are seeking, apparently in a 

misguided effort to find additional support for theories of harm that have already been rejected after 

a five-day evidentiary hearing in federal court. 

Respondents file this response to address Complaint Counsel’s separate, baseless request for 

expedited briefing and an expedited ruling on its Motion. In the ordinary course, Respondents’ 

opposition would be due on October 20, 2023, and the Court’s ruling would be issued no later than 

November 3. Complaint Counsel’s Motion offers no explanation for departing from these established 

procedures. The Motion provides no suggestion of what the alternative deadlines should be, or what 

emergency justifies an alteration in the first place. 

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None exists. As the Court is aware, the hearing in this matter is not set to commence until at 

least 21 days after the Ninth Circuit’s decision on Complaint Counsel’s appeal of the district court’s 

denial of their request for a preliminary injunction. That appeal will not be argued until December 6. 

Accordingly, if the Court hears this dispute in the ordinary course, there will be sufficient time for 

the eight-week discovery period Complaint Counsel has requested. 

Accordingly, Respondents oppose Complaint Counsel’s request for expedited briefing and 

disposition of its Motion to Extend Fact Discovery, and ask the Court to permit Respondents to file 

their response in the normal course by October 20, 2023. 

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Dated: October 10, 2023 Respectfully submitted,

By: /s/ Steven C. Sunshine By: /s/ Beth Wilkinson

Steven C. Sunshine 

Julia K. York 

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP 

1440 New York Avenue, N.W. 

Washington, DC 20005 

Telephone: (202) 371-7860 

Fax: (202) 661-9126 

steve.sunshine@skadden.com 

julia.york@skadden.com 

Maria A. Raptis

Michael J. Sheerin

Evan R. Kreiner 

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP 

One Manhattan West

New York, NY 10001 

Telephone: (212) 735-2425 

Fax: (917) 777-2425 

maria.raptis@skadden.com 

michael.sheerin@skadden.com 

evan.kreiner@skadden.com 

Counsel for Activision Blizzard, Inc. 

Beth Wilkinson 

Rakesh N. Kilaru

Kieran Gostin

Grace L. Hill

Anastasia M. Pastan

Sarah E. Neuman

Alysha Bohanon 

Wilkinson Stekloff LLP 

2001 M Street NW, 10th Floor 

Washington, DC 20036 

Telephone: (202) 847-4000 

Fax: (202) 847-4005 

bwilkinson@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

rkilaru@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

kgostin@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

ghill@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

apastan@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

sneuman@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

abohanon@wilkinsonstekloff.com 

Michael Moiseyev

Megan A. Granger 

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP

2001 M Street NW 

Suite 600 

Washington, DC 20036 

(202) 682-7026 

michael.moiseyev@weil.com

megan.granger@weil.com

 Counsel for Microsoft Corp. 

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on October 10, 2023, I caused a true and correct copy of the 

foregoing to be filed electronically using the FTC’s E-Filing System and served the following 

via email:

April Tabor 

Secretary

Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Rm H-113 

Washington, DC 20580 

ElectronicFilings@ftc.gov 

The Honorable D. Michael Chappell 

Administrative Law Judge

Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Rm H-110 

Washington, DC 20580 

I also certify that I caused the forgoing document to be served via email to: 

James H. Weingarten (jweingarten@ftc.gov) 

James Abell (jabell@ftc.gov) 

Cem Akleman (cakleman@ftc.gov) 

J. Alexander Ansaldo (jansaldo@ftc.gov) 

Peggy Bayer Femenella (pbayerfemenella@ftc.gov)

Michael T. Blevins (mblevins@ftc.gov) 

Amanda L. Butler (abutler2@ftc.gov) 

Nicole Callan (ncallan@ftc.gov) 

Maria Cirincione (mcirincione@ftc.gov) 

Kassandra DiPietro (kdipietro@ftc.gov) 

Jennifer Fleury (jfleury@ftc.gov)

Michael A. Franchak (mfranchak@ftc.gov)

James Gossmann (jgossmann@ftc.gov) 

Ethan Gurwitz (egurwitz@ftc.gov) 

Meredith Levert (mlevert@ftc.gov) 

David E. Morris (dmorris1@ftc.gov) 

Merrick Pastore (mpastore@ftc.gov) 

Stephen Santulli (ssantulli@ftc.gov) 

Edmund Saw (esaw@ftc.gov) 

U.S. Federal Trade Commission 

600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. 

Washington, DC 20580 

Telephone: (202) 326-3570 

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Counsel Supporting the Complaint

/s/ Beth Wilkinson

Beth Wilkinson 

Counsel for Microsoft Corp. 

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