- A judge has ordered Tim Cook to serve a 7-hour deposit as part of Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple.
- Epic sued Apple in August after launching its popular Fortnite game in the App Store.
- An update to the ‘Fortnite’ app evaded the policy that allows Apple to take a 30% cut on in-app purchases.
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A California judge has ordered Apple CEO Tim Cook to serve a 7-hour security deposit as part of Epic Games’ lawsuit against the phone maker.
According to court documents, Epic Games ‘Fortnite’ originally wanted Cook to sit in a deposit for eight hours, shortening a period after Apple’s push back, as Gizmodo first reported. Judge Thomas Hixon said seven hours is the length of time a witness must suffer to be deported. “According to the documents, however, Hixon would have said it would no longer be justified.
Although Cook’s testimony was taken out of court, it could be used when the case is heard, starting in May.
Read more: Apple’s move to halve App Store commissions is a start, but it will not fix the developer relationship issue
Hixon also throws out Apple’s proposal to sue rival Samsung’s internal documents, a request made as part of Apple’s mission to convince officials that the App Store business practices are similar to those of other companies. Hixon said the subpoena was “a strange deep dive.” Apple remains under the scrutiny of its App Store policy as lawmakers question whether it is competitive and violates antitrust laws.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Apple’s fierce relationship with Epic Games began in August when Epic introduced its own payment service in the “Fortnite” game, bypassing Apple’s rules that require developers to use Apple’s own payment service. Apple and Google are both taking a 30% savings on in-app purchases according to their policies. Developers have long expressed their grievances with the practice, claiming that the 30% fee gives Apple an unfair advantage in the market, as the company’s own applications do not have to follow the same rules.
In response to Epic’s violation of Apple’s rules, Apple and Google kicked Epic out of its app stores, giving anyone access to “Fortnite” on their devices. Epic responded with a well-prepared video mocking one of Apple’s most famous commercials. In it, Epic said that Apple had an “App Store monopoly” and asked the company to retaliate against Epic.
Epic sued Apple and Google shortly thereafter. Facebook said in mid-December that it would support Epic Games in the legal battle against Apple by giving the company “relevant information … about how Apple’s policies adversely affected Facebook and the people and businesses that use our services.”
Facebook and Apple have a fierce rivalry that stretches for years. The former is apparently preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that focuses on the App Store rules.
The Apple Epic Games debacle began shortly after a July 29 trial, when Cook appeared before Congress with executives from Google, Amazon and Facebook to interrogate antitrust issues.