Google won't have to face any potential lawsuits by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood until at least next year, under an order issued on Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate in
Jackson, Miss.
Wingate said in the order that he was pausing all proceedings in the dispute between Google and Hood, according to court records. While the judge didn't officially
enter the temporary restraining order that Google had requested, the “stay” he issued appears to have the same practical effect.
Specifically, Wingate's order provides
that Hood can't try to enforce a subpoena for documents from Google until at least March 6. He also directed Hood to file papers by Jan. 18 opposing Google's request for an official injunction, and
scheduled a hearing about the matter for Feb. 13.
The move pauses a dispute between Google and Hood that had escalated into litigation on Friday, shortly after emails disclosed in the
Sony hack revealed that Hollywood was working closely with state law enforcement authorities to target Google for allegedly enabling piracy.
Google on Friday sought a temporary
restraining order prohibiting Hood from bringing charges against the company. Google also sought to prohibit Hood from enforcing a subpoena demanding information relating to outside companies --
including operators of sites that Google indexes in its search engine -- that allegedly play a role in copyright infringement.
The search company alleged that Hood for months
threatened to sue the company, or even prosecute it criminally, unless it blocks “objectionable” content created by consumers or outside companies.
When Google didn't
agree, Hood responded with an “enormously burdensome” subpoena that would have required Google to produce millions of documents, the company alleged. The hacked emails about “Project
Goliath” -- the code name for Hollywood's anti-Google campaign -- reportedly showed that a lawyer for the Motion Picture Association of America actually drafted a set of demands that Hood sent
to Google.