In short: Being the CEO of a $ 2.25 trillion company means that Tim Cook is a very busy man, but he will need to clear seven hours of his schedule to sit down for a deposition in the Epic Games lawsuit against Apple.
To recap, the tricky situation started last summer, when Epic Games tried to circumvent the Apple App Store’s 30 percent “tax” by introducing Epic’s direct payment option for Fortnite. An outraged Cupertino quickly removed the game from his App Store, claiming that the addition was a violation of the store’s policy. In response, Epic filed a lawsuit and created a short animation called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite, which scoffs at the famous 1984 Apple commercial directed by Ridley Scott – check out the Blade Runner director’s opinion of the Epic version.
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Epic Games wanted to depose Cook for eight hours, according to court documents. As reported by Gizmodo, Apple’s lawyers tried to get the CEO out of the deposition by citing the doctrine of the summit, before offering a four-hour commitment.
California judge Thomas S. Hixon said that seven hours is the time “a witness must suffer when he is deposited”, adding that more time would be “unjustified”.
Apple also requested a subpoena from Samsung’s internal documents, but the request was denied. Apple wanted to prove that the App Store rules and practices are not exclusive to the company. Judge Hixon said Epic Games’ deal with Samsung “cannot be a substitute for a larger category of market participants”.
Cook’s sworn testimony out of court can be used in the trial between Apple and Epic Games, which begins in May.