Reporting on Epic Games vs Apple lawsuit, Law360 notes that Judge Thomas S. Hixson of U.S District Court Northern District of California has ordered Apple CEO, Tim Cook to sit for a seven hours deposition. The judge has also denied Apple’s bid to subpoena Samsung to probe how the Fortnite game is distributed on the platform.
Previously, ruling over a number of discovery disputes, Judge Hixson had ordered that Cook would present his documents to Epic’s lawyers and ruled that the length of his disposition would be decided at a later date. On Epic’s request, Judge Hixson also ordered Apple to make the company’s Head of Software, Craig Federighi the document custodian because he is a higher-level decision maker than Eric Neuenschwander.
Cook must undertake 7 hours deposition ahead of Epic Games vs Apple trial case in July
Previously, the Cupertino tech giant had asked for a four hours deposition of Cook due to his busy schedule and need to address important company matters. But unconvinced by the argument, Judge Hixson rule that “Apple’s compromise offer of four hours deposition was inadequate because the case has “less than meets the eye.” Law360 reports that that the court concluded:
“[In] these three antitrust actions, the facts of the case go way beyond the historical facts of what happened when. There is really no one like Apple’s CEO who can testify about how Apple views competition in these various markets that are core to its business model.”
Terming the request as “almost quirky” the judge also denied Apple’s request to subpoena Samsung’s internal documents stating that it was not a party in the case. Apple might be demanding Samsung’s documents because after getting kicked off App Store and Google Play, Epic Games is using Samsung’s devices and digital market place to push Fortnite game to Apple and Google players. Recently, Epic sent out Free Fortnite campaign PR packages to influencers including a Samsung Galaxy S7 tablet, bomber jacket, and message against Apple and Google.
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