In a petition filed on Thursday in Texas state court of Travis County, Google, along with its parent company Alphabet, sought a protective order against Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, who is spearheading the multistate antitrust investigation into the company.
The petition said Mr. Paxton had not provided sufficient safeguards for how his office shares Googles sensitive business documents with outside consultants to the investigation.
It is first legal challenge made by Google since the attorneys general from 48 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico said in September that they were starting an antitrust investigation into the market power and corporate behavior of Google, with Mr. Paxton taking the lead.
On the same day it announced the investigation, Mr. Paxtons office served Google with a civil investigative demand, seeking what the company called highly proprietary, competitively sensitive, and otherwise confidential business information including internal planning memos, strategic documents and white papers.
Given the breadth of confidential business information sought by the OAG, Google wrote, referring to the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, and the heightened risks of leaks and disclosure to Googles competitors and complainants in this and other regulatory proceedings, a protective order is appropriate and necessary.
Googles petition is largely a procedural move, but it offers insight both into who is helping the attorneys general and what Google is worried about as it enters what could be a long legal tussle. In addition to the state inquiries, House and Senate committees, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are also looking into the companys business practices.
In a statement, the Texas attorney generals office said it was caught off-guard by Googles petition challenging our right to employ many of the most knowledgeable in this complex field.