Activision Blizzard has hired legal heavyweight Lord David Pannick KC, whose recent cases include Boris Johnson’s “partygate” investigation, to lead its fight against the UK competition regulator’s decision to block its 75-year deal. billion dollars with Microsoft.
Pannik of Blackstone Chambers, described by a legal guide as an “undisputed leader at the bar”, will represent the creator of the hit video game call of Duty in its legal challenge in competition appellate tribunal, according to people familiar with the rental.
The hiring comes two weeks after the Italian Antitrust Authority issued a potentially fatal ruling blow to the acquisition of blockbusters concluding that it would give Microsoft an unfair advantage in the nascent cloud gaming market.
Bobby Kotick, California CEO activisionlast month vowed to fight to get the deal done, calling the CMA’s decision a sign that the UK was “clearly closed for business”. Microsoft chairman Brad Smith warned the move “discourages technological innovation and investment” in the country.
Activision’s decision to bring in Pannick, widely regarded as one of the best lawyers of his generation with former clients including Queen Elizabeth II, is a sign of how seriously it is taking the threat that UK intervention could kill his hopes to complete the gaming industry’s biggest deal ever.
Pannick represented entrepreneur Gina Miller in her seminal two Brexit-related victories against the UK government, most notably in 2019, when the Supreme Court ruled Johnson’s prorogation of parliament illegal.
The advocate, who has been a crossbench peer since 2008, continued to advising Johnson last year on partygatewhen the House of Commons privileges committee investigated illegal parties held in Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
In a career spanning more than four decades, Pannick has also represented clients as diverse as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, businessman Roland “Tiny” Rowland, former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley, distributors of pornographic material Sheptonhurst Ltd and Diana, Princess of Wales. In 2003, he acted for Queen Elizabeth, winning an injunction against the Daily Mirror newspaper after a reporter posed as a Buckingham Palace valet.
Educated at Hertford College, Oxford before qualifying as a solicitor in 1979, Pannick is recognized for his high caliber case handling in UK and international law.
Chambers UK’s latest legal guide describes it as an “outstanding public law silk”, known for handling the “most significant high-profile human rights cases before national, European and international tribunals” over the past 20 years.
Last year he represented the UK government when it won a judicial review challenge over its plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda, which the High Court found legitimate. The case is under appeal.
Blackstone Chambers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pannick’s appointment follows Microsoft hiring Daniel Beard KC, a top competition lawyer, to head its own lawsuit over the deal, The Telegraph reported last week.
Microsoft and Activision will act as independent parties to their CAT appeals, pending decisions on the settlement in Europe and the United States. The European Commission is expected to publish its report as early as next week.
The UK CAT will be tasked with determining whether the CMA’s decision was legitimate by analyzing the agency’s decision-making procedures, which legal experts say set the bar high for challenges like those from Microsoft and Activision. Facebook parent Meta last year failed to overturn the CMA’s ruling that it should sell image-sharing service Giphy in a $315 million deal.
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