JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge is expected to rule next week on whether Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood can investigate Internet search giant Google.
At a Feb. 13 hearing, Judge Henry T. Wingate for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi said he would make his decision Tuesday.
Hood sent a 79-page subpoena to Google in October. The attorney general suspects the company is violating consumer protection laws by helping criminals through its search engine and autocomplete function. Hood also takes issue with the company’s sharing of YouTube ad revenue.
Google is seeking an injunction against Hood, arguing that it can’t be held responsible for third-party content. It also wants Wingate to bar Hood from filing any charges.
In December, Wingate refused to grant Google’s request for a temporary restraining order.
Hood said at the time his office would give the company an extra 60 days to comply with its subpoena for documents. The parties agreed to maintain the status quo pending last week’s hearing.
“This time out will allow the State to file the necessary briefs to respond to Google’s lawsuit that was thrust upon us by a company worth $382 billion – more than the annual state revenue of California, Texas and New York combined – and give the parties additional time to attempt to reach an amicable resolution,” the attorney general said in a Dec. 22 statement.
Google filed its lawsuit against Hood in the federal court Dec. 20.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.