Epic Games vs Apple trial set for May 2021
It's uncertain at this stage whether the trial will be conducted in person or virtually
The antitrust trial opposing Epic Games and Apple is set to begin on May 3, 2021.
According to a document filed on October 6, US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also set a joint pretrial conference statement for April 9. The pretrial conference will then kickstart on April 21, before the bench trial starting on May 3.
At this stage, it is not known whether the trial will be conducted in person or virtually, with the document noting it could also be "some combination" of the two.
The next step in the dispute will be the case management conference on October 19, 2020. Before then, the parties will have to "formulate recommendations to streamline trial issues and briefing, including whether briefing on certain legal issues should be staged in advance of the trial."
Last week, Epic Games and Apple both requested for their ongoing legal battle to be decided by a judge, rather than a jury.
The dispute between the two companies started in August when Epic Games incentivised users to use direct payment in Fortnite to get permanent discounts, in an attempt to avoid Apple's platform fees. This led Apple to remove the game from the App Store. Soon after, Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
A similar case is ongoing with Google, which also removed Fortnite from its Play store. However, the tech giant requested the court to not connect it to the Apple vs Epic case.