Last May 3, the trial between Epic Games and Apple began. It all started when the video game producer decided to violate the rules of the App Store and the decisions they made from Apple a posteriori, they even lost their developer account. We have already a week of trial and this is the most interesting during these days.
Apple's lawyers have taken the first two days of trial to the orchard
It all started with the declarations of both companies. The initial arguments, each one defending their position before the judge of the case. Epic focused on portraying Apple and the App Store as a monopoly and anti-competitive ecosystem that does not offer the benefits to consumers that Apple promotes. The production company presented numerous emails sent by Steve Jobs, Craig Federighi, Luca Maestri, Tim Cook, Eddy Cue and Scott Forstall allude to Apple's construction of the build strategy. an insurmountable wall for the rest.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic, testified about his company's business model, relationships with companies like Microsoft and Sony, and more. An interesting fact It came about when Sweeney admitted he uses an iPhone due to Apple's focus on privacy and security in response to inquiries from Apple attorneys.
Apple's lawyers, on the other hand, focused on the benefit they provide to developers on their platforms. This includes access to Apple's intellectual property, such as its variety of APIs and developer resources. They focused heavily on Epic's use of its Metal graphics API. The company highlighted internal emails from Epic executives praising Metal. In 2018, Epic also provided a quote for WWDC, at Apple's request, praising Metal.
However the key is found in the following question and answer:
Apple Lawyer: If Apple had told you that they would offer you a deal and no other developer, Would I have accepted it?
Sweeney: Yes, I would have.
As they say, There are no further questions, Your Honor.
From day 3 to 5 of the trial between Epic Games and Apple, the thing has not been so important
The trickiest thing was that Apple found itself between a rock and a hard place trying to prevent Netflix Stop Supporting In-App Purchase on the App Store. An email thread showed internal communication at Apple once the company learned of Netflix's plans. Apple executives in the email thread arranged a variety of meetings with Netflix to discuss the company's planned tests.
On the fourth day they began to have prominence some witnesses:
El Vice President of the App Store He explained that Apple has long focused on in-store security and refuted suggestions on things like alternative payment methods and download apps. Judge Rogers objected to Epic's continued attempts to admit certain documents as evidence, based on factors such as relevance and documents citing third parties. The vice president and his lawyers avoided admitting that certain internal Apple communications as a test. Something that undoubtedly comes in handy for the apple company.
On the last business day of the trial but there is still plenty of firewood left, Trystan Kosmynka, detailed that around 5 million applications are sent to the App Store each year and that application rejection rate is less than 40%. In 2019, 4.808.685 apps were submitted for the App Store review process, and 36% of them were rejected. Of these rejected apps, about 215.000 violated Apple's privacy guidelines.
At the moment little "chicha" but it has not yet touched the big shots of the companies to go to declare. We remain vigilant because this trial can change a lot at Apple and therefore to users of apple devices.
