Tim Cook Ordered to Attend 7-Hour Deposition in Apple vs. Epic Games Lawsuit

A judge presiding over preparatory hearings in the Apple vs. Epic Games court case has ruled that Apple CEO Tim Cook must attend a seven-hour long deposition to testify about how the company views App Store competition, reports Gizmodo.

fortnite apple featured
U.S. magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixon reportedly settled on the seven-hour deposition after Epic Games proposed eight hours to depose Cook and Apple requested four. Apple's concession came after its lawyers attempted to cite the "apex doctrine," which prevents a high-level corporate employee from being deposed.

According to Judge Thomas S. Hixon, however, "this dispute is less than meets the eye." Hixon writes that the apex doctrine "limits the length of a deposition, rather than barring it altogether," and that given the circumstances, the dispute is a question of whether Cook should be deposed for "four hours, eight hours, or some length of time in between." Hence, Hixon's ruling that Cook should be deposed for seven hours.

Judge Hixon also denied Apple's request to subpoena internal documents related to ‌Epic Games‌' relationship with Samsung, which Apple alleged would prove that its ‌App Store‌'s practices are largely consistent with other industry players.

In other words, if Apple can prove that Samsung made similar decisions in how it distributes ‌Epic Games‌' Fortnite, then it could argue that the company's antitrust argument is unconvincing.

However, Hixon called the request "a quirky deep dive" into arrangements between the two companies, which "cannot serve as a stand-in for some larger category of market participants."

In another development, Hixon ordered Apple to make "best efforts" to produce internal payment-processing documents, after it criticized the company as "frustrating and unsatisfactory" in its attempts to stall their release to Epic.

According to Law360, Apple counsel representatives Jay Srinivasan of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher argued that the large size of the company meant the documents would take time to produce, and claimed that ‌Epic Games‌ has not prioritized its requests.

"You're not really offering a solution to this problem," Judge Hixson told Srinivasan. "You're just saying, 'No, we can't do it.' That feels frustrating and unsatisfactory to me."

‌Epic Games‌‌ in August added a Fortnite update that allowed customers to purchase in-game currency directly from ‌Epic Games‌, skirting Apple's in-app purchases. That is against Apple's rules, and the move led Apple to pull the app from the App Store.

After that, ‌‌Epic Games‌‌ filed a planned lawsuit against Apple, and Apple ultimately terminated ‌‌Epic Games‌‌' developer account. Fortnite has not been available on iOS devices since August, and as Epic refuses to comply with the ‌‌App Store‌‌ rules, there is no path for it to return to the ‌‌App Store‌‌.

The trial between ‌Epic Games‌ and Apple is scheduled to begin in May 2021.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Next Week With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

What to Expect From the 'Apple Launch' Next Week

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week. Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro With All-New Camera Bar Design Allegedly Revealed

Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech. iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

'New' iPhone SE Product Listing Appears on French Website

Wednesday February 12, 2025 6:49 am PST by
As the wait continues for Apple's long-rumored, fourth-generation iPhone SE, French electronics retailer Boulanger has prematurely published a product listing for a "new" model of the iPhone SE. The placeholder page says the device is "coming soon," but it offers no further information, and the price shown is obviously not real. The listing was spotted by a reader of the French technology...
M4 Mac mini Apple Video

Apple's Refurbished Mac Mini Pricing Has a Problem

Thursday February 13, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple this week began selling refurbished Mac mini models with the M4 chip for the first time, but this has led to a pricing conundrum. In the United States, Apple is offering a refurbished Mac mini with the base M4 chip, 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet for $509, down from $599 new. This is the standard 15% discount that Apple offers on refurbished Macs. The issue is...
iPhone 16 Apple Store

iPhone 17 in New Sizes This Year: What to Know

Thursday February 13, 2025 2:45 am PST by
Last year, Apple tweaked iPhone 16 Pro screen sizes to make them bigger than 2023's iPhone 15 Pro models, and this year we are also expecting a change in the size of the displays in the iPhone 17 lineup. Here's what we know. Standard iPhone 17 Apple could introduce a new display size for the standard iPhone 17 model in 2025. The iPhone 17 could measure in at 6.3 inches, up from 6.1 inches,...
iphone air concept weis

iPhone 17 Air Could Look Like This in Real Life

Friday February 14, 2025 3:41 am PST by
There have been several alleged leaked details of the iPhone 17 Air, Apple's rumored new slim iPhone, but images have been limited to grainy shots taken in component factories. However, this hyper-realistic concept created by WEIS Studio gives us the best idea yet of what Apple's thin device might actually look like. The concept design is inspired by recent leaks indicating that the device...

Top Rated Comments

HQuest Avatar
53 months ago
Tim Cook: I don’t want to be here for an arbitrary length of 7 hours
Judge: this is the law.
Tim Cook: what if I don’t comply?
Judge: then you will get punished.
Tim Cook: that’s what Epic did. They had a legal agreement, they broke it and got punished. Any further questions?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Maximara Avatar
53 months ago
I don't understand why this judge is given Apple such a hard time. It has been ruled that Epic's problems are a "self infected wound" so why is this even a thing? What does Epic have that will take seven hours to go through?! Sounds more like they are on a fishing expedition.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
willyx Avatar
53 months ago

Don’t like the App Store? Go dev for Android. Or the open web. Very simple. App Store is more than fair.
Fortunately, the "fairness" of the App Store is not for you to judge :D
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
53 months ago

Tim Cook is not what best for Apple and the product innovation has been severely downgraded since 2015.
Yup.

Abject failures like AirPods and the M1 chip are here to remind us how terrible for Apple Cook is.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IllinoisCorn Avatar
53 months ago

I don't understand why this judge is given Apple such a hard time. It has been ruled that Epic's problems are a "self infected wound" so why is this even a thing? What does Epic have that will take seven hours to go through?! Sounds more like they are on a fishing expedition.
I'm an attorney. 7 hour depositions are not uncommon for a witness of this magnitude. I've been in depositions of a single witness that lasted days.

And yes, depositions are, in many respects, fishing expeditions. Different story when the witness is testifying at trial.

Tim will not be allowed to give corporate speak nonsense. He will be grilled. And I hope we get to see the video one day (I assume this deposition will be on video).
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kk200 Avatar
53 months ago

Such as? Did someone take you to the apple store and force you to buy an Apple product and NOT return it with in the 2 week return period?
You paid for you phone in full price. It is not a rent-phone. Apple has no right to tell you what you can use an what you cannot
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)