Apple CEOs Epic Games on Witness List in Fortnite Case

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Apple Inc and Epic Games have listed their top officials as possible witnesses in a case between the iPhone maker and the developer of the video game over the App Store payment system, court documents showed.

Apple and Epic Games, the creator of the popular game Fortnite, have been in a legal battle since last year, when Epic Games tried to evade a 30% App Store fee by launching the their own in-app payment system. This move led Apple to ban Fortnite from its store.

In addition to CEO Tim Cook, Apple also named software chief Craig Federighi and App Store vice president Matt Fischer to an indefinite list of witnesses submitted to the Oakland Region Northern District U.S. District Court, a copy of which has been viewed by Reuters.

Epic Games listed founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, game store manager Steve Allison, and Thomas Ko, head of online business strategy, among his own witnesses for the lawsuit. .

“The siege of developers speaking out against Apple and their dysfunctional practices has escalated,” Epic Games said in a statement.

Apple did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, but told Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-20/apple-s-cook-other-senior-leaders-to-testify- in-fortnite-trial? sref = ZoyErlU1 in a statement that he felt “confident that the case would prove that Epic had deliberately breached its agreement to increase its income.” (Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Derek Francis in Bengaluru; Editing by Jason Neely and Daniel Wallis)

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