Movie studios and the MPAA created a secret plan to combat Google, dubbed ‘Project Goliath’

New emails uncovered by the Verge from Sony’s stolen files have revealed that the company, along with several other studios and executives at the MPAA, worked together to create a plan of attack against Google, which they see as one of the biggest enemies Hollywood has.

The plan, which was codenamed “Project Goliath,” would involve each of the major movie studios contributing money toward a $500,000 fund to support legal attacks against the Mountain View company for its (unwitting) role in helping pirates find stolen media.

These companies also wanted to get attorneys general involved as much as possible. At least one, Jim Hood of Mississippi, was apparently on board with the idea of making trouble for Google, though the Project Goliath participants wanted to get more on their side before attempting anything.

The group was hoping to put together a collection of evidence against Google and use that to force change. The specific end game wasn’t entirely spelled out, though mentions of site-blocking measures were mentioned as “a means to an end.”

Comcast (owner of NBC Universal) is mentioned in the emails as having hired experts who were developing methods for detecting pirated media being passed around the web and blocking it from reaching consumers. However, the Project Goliath group was afraid that doing so could have disastrous PR results similar to the public response to the SOPA legislation proposed in 2012.

The Verge points out that in May, the group’s emails slowed to a stop, possibly indicating that the efforts had lost steam among studio execs and MPAA officials.