TeCHnology

Microsoft (MSFT.O) urged an appeals court in sometimes scathing language on Friday to reject the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) request to pause its $69 billion deal to buy Activision (ATVI.O).

The agency asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals late on Thursday to require the companies to delay consummating the transaction while the court considered the FTC's broader appeal.

Microsoft said on Friday the agency had been slow to file in federal court, and thus it was inappropriate to press for a delay so late in the game.

"The Court should not mistake the FTC’s litigation gamesmanship for an emergency meriting this Court’s deviation from the ordinary appellate process," the company wrote.