Appeals court: Google will have to deal with Mississippi AG investigation

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.

An appeals court has ruled that Google will have to deal with an investigation into its business practices by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. The court also noted the search company can still challenge the investigation at a later time.

It's a reversal of a big win by Google last year when a federal judge halted the Mississippi investigation, which sought information about how Google deals with links related to counterfeit goods, illegal drug sales, copyright violations, and other matters. Google sued to stop the investigation while litigation was underway, saying that Hood's goal was to "punish" Google while he pursued his goal of a "pre-filtered Internet"—a power denied him by both Congress and the Constitution, Google lawyers argued.

Hood's investigation had been egged on by lobbyists from the Motion Picture Association of America, and in some cases demand letters that came from Hood's office were actually written by MPAA lawyers.