Google. Inc. is asking a federal judge to keep confidential information about its business plans that it turned over to the Justice Department as part of DOJ’s investigation into the AT&T/T-Mobile deal.
In a motion filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., Google said that it turned over competitively sensitive information to DOJ and asks U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle to keep the material confidential. The company also asks Huvelle to give the company advance notice of possible disclosure of sensitive information.
“Google produced a substantial volume of documents of a highly confidential and competitively sensitive nature to the DOJ, such as internal product development and launch plans,” the company said in its filing. That information includes business plans for its Android mobile operating system.
In August, DOJ filed suit to block the merger of the nation’s second and fourth largest wireless telephone companies. In announcing the suit to block the $39 billion deal, DOJ officials said the merger would result in decreased competition, which, in turn would result in decreased quality and choices for customers.
Other companies may make similar requests to keep confidential information turned over to DOJ as part of the probe.
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