Lawsuit between Apple and Epic is due in July next year

The lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games will take place in July next year, it came out on Monday during the first virtual session. The judge suggested it would be okay for a jury to decide who is right.

Both companies have until January 6 to submit relevant documentation, Apple Insider reports. Lawyers for both parties have until Tuesday to indicate whether they think it should be a jury trial or not. The judge thinks it should be done with a jury. “It’s important enough to understand what real people think. Are people concerned about these issues or not?”

It seems, according to the site, that Epic would rather not see a jury. The lawsuit is about Epic’s charges against Apple. Epic argues that Apple has a monopoly on distribution of apps on iOS and that as a result, developer remittances to Apple are too high by 30 percent, while competitors have no chance of using an alternative download store or payment system.

The case began when Epic introduced its own payment system in August, after which Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store. Google did the same in its digital app store. With its own payment system, Epic circumvented the mandatory payment of 30 percent on payments, but Apple and Google are not allowed to have their own payment system. Not everyone pays 30 percent: Amazon gives 15 percent to Apple.

Subsequently, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against both parties over the monopoly of the two companies and the restrictions of the policy on third parties. In a previous preliminary ruling, a judge said Apple may block Fortnite, but the developer account Epic owns for the Unreal Engine should not be banned.