40 attorneys general support Hood's Google appeal

Forty U.S. attorneys general have filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Mississippi's appeal of a U.S. District Court injunction that granted Google at least a temporary reprieve from the state's investigation into the company's online conduct.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has said the search engine violates state law, alleging it assists the proliferation of pirated music, that its auto-complete search feature suggests illegal activities and that distributing YouTube ad revenue promotes illegal drug sales. Other allegations include the ability to buy fake IDs and the sale of stolen credit card data on Google platforms.

U.S. District judge Henry Wingate issued the injunction in March. Almost immediately after that, Google filed court documents seeking correspondence between Hood and the Motion Picture Corp. of America. The company has accused Hood and MPCA of using legal maneuvering to secure piracy protection Congress has already rejected.

"I am extremely grateful that an overwhelming majority of our nation's attorneys general, both Republican and Democrat, recognize that a state attorney general has the fundamental power to investigate potential violations of state law and that wrongdoers cannot run to federal court to escape legal oversight in the states where they do business," Hood in a press release.

States participating include: Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

Contact Clay Chandler at (601) 961-7264 or cchandler@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @claychand on Twitter.