It’s hard to believe that Apple started just seven months ago Fortnite from the App Store and Epic Games has jumped its antitrust trap, but you do not have to wait much longer before the behind-the-scenes lawsuits make way for courtroom drama – and it looks like Apple and Epic’s top executives are standing the test.
Apple revealed in a lawsuit Friday night that CEO Tim Cook, SVP Craig Federighi, and former marketing chief and current App Store boss Phil Schiller intend to testify directly and in person in court, among many other preliminary witnesses . Ep Sweets CEO Tim Sweeney and VP Mark Rein should be there as well, plus Facebook’s VP for games, a Microsoft VP for Xbox business development, and a whole host of directors on both sides.
Schiller is expected to spend most of his time at the witness stand on an estimated 11 hours of investigation and cross-examination, which makes sense. Not only was he in charge of the App Store which is the center of the case, but some of his emails and the emails of his subordinates were scrutinized – both for this case and in the big technological antitrust trial last year, one that ended with the House Judiciary Committee ruling that “Apple exercises monopolistic power in the mobile applications market.”
Apple says its executives “look forward to sharing with the court”:
Our senior executives look forward to sharing with the court the very positive impact the App Store has had on innovation, economies around the world and the customer experience over the past twelve years. We are confident that the case will prove that Epic deliberately violated its agreement to increase only its revenue, which resulted in it being removed from the App Store. In doing so, Epic circumvented the security features of the App Store in a way that would lead to reduced competition and pose a huge risk to consumers’ privacy and data security.
The trial is set to begin on May 3 and is expected to last several weeks.
You can find the full list of provisional witnesses and those who are being dismissed provisionally below.