Apple today submitted its witness list for its upcoming bench trial with Epic Games, and several Apple executives will be testifying, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple Fellow Phil Schiller, and Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi.
Cook will be directly examined for one hour, with a one hour cross examination also included. Federighi will testify for two hours with a one hour cross examination, while Schiller, who is in charge of the App Store, will testify for a total of 10 hours. All of Apple's witnesses will appear in person.
In a statement to MacRumors, Apple said that its executives are eager to share the impact the App Store has had on innovation and economies around the world.
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.
Apple's witness list 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, and other employees in marketing, developer relations, and related fields.
Epic's witnesses include Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and other Epic employees, and third-party witnesses will include executives from Facebook, Microsoft, Nvidia, plus iTunes chief Eddy Cue and former iOS software chief Scott Forstall. Epic said in February that it was attempting to get in touch with Forstall, but was having difficulty locating him. Epic plans to call on Forstall because of his involvement with the launch of the App Store prior to his 2013 departure from the company. In a statement, Epic said that it is not alone in its fight with Apple.
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.
The trial is set to begin on Monday, May 3. It is a bench trial, which means there will be no jury involved. Earlier this month, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez pushed for an in-person trial as she said that the case is "significant enough" that the court should hear it in person.
