Mississippi notches initial win in fight with Google

An appeals court has ruled that the Mississippi attorney general can continue with his investigation of Google’s policies to police elicit or infringing content. A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on April 8 overruled a lower court judge who had blocked the state from requiring Google to turn over documents or from bringing charges against the tech company on the issue. The decision is an initial win for Mississippi Attorney General James Hood (R). But the court noted the decision is based on timing and not the merits of the case. If Hood ever follows through by bringing charges against Google or enforcing a subpoena for documents, both sides could find themselves back in the same place.

“This injunction covers a fuzzily defined range of enforcement actions that do not appear imminent,” the court wrote in its 23-page opinion. “We cannot on the present record predict what conduct Hood might one day try to prosecute under Mississippi law.” The decision stems from a long-running dispute between the Mississippi attorney general and Google. For years, Hood has been pressing Google to bolster its policies on how it removes illegal content — including copyright-protected works, cyber leaks and prescription drug sales. In 2014, he issued a subpoena requesting mountains of Google documents related to the company’s policies to police that content. Google says federal law grants it immunity from third-party content on its site as long as it removes illegal content when asked. It claims that Hood’s inquiry is a fishing expedition that is being pushed by the movie industry to try and establish online piracy policies that Congress previously rejected after a massive backlash from the public.