Apple’s Tim Cook and Craig Federighi have been commissioned to testify in the company’s ongoing legal battle with Epic Games. New lawsuits this week indicate that Epic is compiling a long list of requests for documents and testimonials from Apple, and Apple says these requests will place a major burden on the company.
As first noted by I more, the filing indicates that Epic is asking Apple to provide “comprehensive documentation” about the App Store and its various policies. However, the court states that Epic should not ask for more data than is necessary.
As for Cook’s and Federighi’s testimony, Apple first indicated that Cook would be available, but only for a testimony of up to four hours. The judge rejected this request, saying that restrictions cannot be established until Apple provides Epic with the correct documents.
Apple has agreed to make Cook its custodian on the condition that plaintiffs limit their dismissal from him to four hours. The only issue in dispute between the parties is whether this term is appropriate. The court finds that this is not the case. Plaintiffs cannot meaningfully assess how long this statement should take before seeing Cook’s documents. The court orders Apple to make Cook a record keeper. The length of its deposition can be discussed later.
Second, Apple asked Eric Neuenshwander, a software manager at Apple who helps run the App Store and reports to Federighi, to testify instead of Federighi himself. The judge again rejected this request, calling Federighi a “higher-level decision-maker” than Neuenshwander.
First, plaintiffs have shown that Federighi is a higher-level decision-maker, whose documents likely go to the heart of Apple’s corporate justification defense. Second, if plaintiffs have guessed wrong and Federighi’s documents are not as relevant as Neuenschwander’s, it hurts plaintiffs. Assuming the requests are relevant and proportional, it is up to the plaintiffs to decide which discovery they want to make to prove their claims, and if they make bad choices, that’s their problem.
The trial between Apple and Epic Games through the App Store will take place in July 2021, but we expect more information to come out via a new hearing on January 8.
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