Tim Cook and other Apple executives will testify against Epic’s Fortnite trial

Tim Cook and other Apple executives will testify against Epic’s Fortnite trial

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The case involves a dispute between the manufacturer of one of the most popular video games in the world and the prominent mobile device company over Apple’s control over its App Store. Epic is suing Apple for alleged antitrust violations.

Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, chief software engineer Craig Federighi and Apple colleague Phil Schiller are some of the executives who can testify, according to a provisional witness lawsuit. Others include those dealing with payment processing, combating fraud and those involved with App Store development, policies and tools.

“Our senior executives are eager to share with the court the very positive impact that the App Store has had on innovation, economies around the world and the customer experience over the past 12 years. We are confident that the case will prove that Epic purposely violated your agreement just to increase your revenue, which is what resulted in your removal from the App Store, “Apple said in a statement. “In doing so, Epic circumvented the App Store’s security features in a way that would lead to reduced competition and put consumer privacy and data security at tremendous risk.”

Epic Games plans to call its founder and CEO Tim Sweeney and other senior executives to testify on issues such as its business model, financial performance and its campaign against app stores. Epic declined to comment.

The iPhone maker and creator of the famous video game Fortnite has been involved in a legal battle since last year, after Apple removed the Fortnite game from its App Store in August. The removal came after Epic pushed a software update to the app that allowed players to bypass the payment system on Apple’s proprietary app by 30% – which is contractually prohibited. Google also removed Fortnite from its store.
Sweeney believes the requirement violated antitrust laws because it forced developers to use Apple and Google’s payment systems. Epic then filed lawsuits against the two technology companies after the stores were removed, arguing that the courts should step in and order Apple and Google to allow developers to sell in-app purchases without cutting the revenue by 30%.

Apple’s trial against Epic Games could begin as early as May 3, according to court documents.

– Brian Fung and Shannon Liao of CNN contributed to this report.

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