In letter: As the CEO of a $ 2.25 trillion company, Tim Cook is very busy, but will have to take seven hours off his schedule to make a statement in Epic Games’ upcoming lawsuit against Apple.
To recap, the messy situation started last summer when Epic Games tried to bypass Apple’s 30 percent App Store ‘tax’ by introducing the Epic Direct Payment option for Fortnite. An outraged Cupertino quickly removed the game from the App Store, claiming that the addition violated store policy. In response, Epic filed a lawsuit and created a short animation called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite that makes fun of Apple’s famous 1984 commercial directed by Ridley Scott – check out the Blade Runner director’s take on Epic’s version .
* {padding: 0; margin: 0; overflow: hidden} html, body {height: 100%} img, span {position: absolute; width: 100%; top: 0; bottom: 0; margin: auto} span {height: auto; padding top: 24%; text-align: center; font: 48px / 1.5 sans-serif; colour White; text-shadow: 0 0 0.5em black; background: # 05408f85; background: linear gradient (90deg, rgba (44,52,61,0.5) 0%, rgba (36,91,172,0,49763655462184875) 35%, rgba (81,132,202,0.5) 100%)}
Epic Games had wanted to impeach Cook for eight hours, according to court documents. As reported by Gizmodo, Apple’s lawyers attempted to get the CEO out of the statement by quoting the top doctrine, before offering a four-hour compromise.
California judge Thomas S. Hixon said seven hours is the time “a witness must suffer to be impeached,” adding that longer would be “unjustified.”
Apple also asked to subpoena Samsung internal documents, but the request was denied. Apple wanted to prove that the App Store’s rules and practices are not unique to the company. Judge Hixon said the agreement between Epic Games and Samsung “cannot serve as a substitute for a wider category of market participants.”
Cook’s sworn, out-of-court testimony could be used in the Apple-Epic Games trial, which begins in May.