Apple has a pending lawsuit with Epic Games over its App Store fee for certain purchases. Earlier today, Apple Apple submitted a list of witnesses who will testify in Epic Games’ litigation on Friday. The list includes the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, and “Apple Academician” Phil Schiller. Also, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, will testify.
According to reports, Tim Cook will directly testify for 1 hour and will also accept 1 hour of cross-examination. Federighi will testify for 2 hours and undergo cross-examination for 1 hour. Schiller, who is in charge of the App Store, will testify for a total of 10 hours. All Apple witnesses will appear in court in person.
In a statement, Apple claims that the company’s executives are eager to share the App Store’s impact on innovation and the global economy. Its statement reads
“Our senior executives look forward to sharing with the court the very positive impact the App Store has had on innovation, economies across the world, and the customer experience over the last 12 years. We feel confident the case will prove that Epic purposefully breached its agreement solely to increase its revenues, which is what resulted in their removal from the App Store. By doing that, Epic circumvented the security features of the App Store in a way that would lead to reduced competition and put consumers’ privacy and data security at tremendous risk”.
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Apple’s and Epic’s witnesses for the case
Apple’s list of witnesses also includes
- App Store Vice President Matt Fischer
- Head of Fraud Engineering Algorithms and Risk, Eric Friedman
- Director of Commerce and Payments, Eric Gray
- Game Development Manager, Mark Grimm
- Other employees in marketing, developer relations, as well as other fields
Furthermore, Epic Games witnesses include
- Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney
- Epic employees
Other third-party witnesses include
- Microsoft
- Nvidia
- plus iTunes chief Eddy Cue
- Former iOS software chief, Scott Forstall
Furthermore, Epic Games claim that this fight is not for itself alone. The statement reads
“The chorus of developers speaking out against Apple and their anticompetitive practices has become louder. We are not alone in this fight. We look forward to making our case for competition in app distribution and payment processes”.
Epic Games is against Apple’s policy of 30% commission for sales exceeding $1 million. The company has gathered as many witnesses as possible to prove its case. This case will be a bench trial. This means that it will not involve a jury. The trial will commence on Monday, May 3.