Epic Games Versus Apple Antitrust Court Hearing to Start on May 3

BY Sanuj Bhatia

Published 1 Mar 2021

It’s finally happening. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has set a date of May 3 for the court hearing for the Epic Games versus Apple antitrust lawsuit.

Apple versus Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit is finally coming to a conclusion. The hearing is set for May 3rd. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has said that due to the case’s significance it will be an in-person trial. However, if the cases begin to rise, the first hearing might take place on a Zoom call, with the future hearings being in-person.

Foss Patent has also reported that even if the trial is heard in the courthouse, the number of people allowed to be involved at any given time will be limited. Moreover, the judge has said that anyone using COVID-19 as an ‘excuse’ will have to go through consequences.

“The judge won’t take it lightly if someone who’s a “COVID denier” on Facebook or goes on extensive travel for other purposes asks to be excused from showing up in person for the trial. She expects counsel for the parties to “investigate” the witnesses in that regard.”

The courtroom is also, reportedly, being set up with plexiglass shields. This will be done to avoid any contamination, and it will also allow the witness to speak without the need to wear face masks. The in-person trial, for now, is set for May 3 with the circumstances subject to change with the COVID-19 situation.

Epic Games filed an antitrust case against Apple when its game, Fortnite, was removed from the App Store for bypassing Apple’s in-app purchasing system. Since then, a lot has happened with the case. Most recently, Epic Games was trying to locate the former iOS software chief to testify against Apple. Epic Games has also filed a similar case in the European Union court.

Who do you side with in Apple versus Epic Games battle? Do you think Apple having a monopoly in iOS app distribution is justified? Let us know in the comments section below!