- Tim Cook of Apple and Tim Sweeney of Epic Games will testify in the Fortnite case.
- It is the latest in a series of lawsuits that Epic Games has filed against Apple.
- The trial is scheduled to begin on May 3.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
Apple Inc and
Epic Games
called on their executive directors to testify as part of the App Store trial “Fortnite,” court documents show.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, SVP Craig Federighi and former head of marketing and current vice president of the App Store Matt Fischer are on the list of provisional witnesses to testify live and face to face in court, among others.
Epic Games introduced its founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, store manager Steve Allison and head of online business strategy Thomas Ko as witnesses for the trial.
Reuters reported that Epic Games said: “The chorus of developers speaking out against Apple and its anti-competitive practices has become louder.”
Apple responded in a statement to Bloomberg, which said it felt “confident that the case will prove that Epic purposely violated its agreement just to increase its revenue”.
The fight started after Epic Games circumvented the rules that Apple and Google have about in-app payments made through their App Stores.
Developers are required to pay Apple and Google a 30% commission on any payments made on their applications. Epic Games said this was anti-competitive.
Epic Games then implemented its own payment system within “Fortnite”, which led to the launch of Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store, as Insider previously reported.
Apple’s lawsuit is due to begin provisionally on May 3, with Cook expected to give a 7-hour deposition.
Apple says its top executives “are eager to share with the court the very positive impact that the App Store has had on innovation, economies worldwide and the customer experience over the past 12 years”, as reported by The Verge .