Epic Games and Apple to meet in court in May 2021

A quick update on Epic vs. Apple case. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has set a trial date of May 3, 2021.

This is earlier that the July 2021 date that was originally considered. The date was pushed forward due to the backlog created by the coronavirus pandemic.

While Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers initially said the case should be tried by a jury, she now announced it will be a bench trial.

Both Epic Games and Apple wanted the dispute to be settled by a judge rather than by jury. And that’s the only thing the two companies agree on, with Epic maintaining that Apple is engaged in antitrust practices, while the latter refuses to reinstate Fortnite on its App Store.

So far, the judge has not been inclined to give Epic a preliminary injunction to allow Fortnite on the App Store. However, given the recent congressional investigation into Apple’s monopolistic policies, she might have a change of heart.