What you need to know
- Today was the last day of testimony in the Epic v. Apple trial.
- Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will now weigh the ruling for the case.
It's all up to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers now.
Today was the last day of testimony in the Epic v. Apple trial, a major part of the lawsuit brought against Apple by the Fortnite game maker. Now that the trial has adjourned, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will retire to her chambers and, after pouring through the lawsuit and trial documents, make a ruling in the case.
As reported by 9to5Mac, the final day of testimony consisted of Rogers questioning attorneys from both Apple and Epic.
In lieu of traditional closing arguments, today's final day of the trial consisted of three hours of back-and-forth between Judge Rogers and lawyers for Apple and Epic. Judge Rogers asked both sides a variety of questions about the past three weeks of testimony.One of the points Judge Rogers repeatedly mentioned during today's trial was that customers have the ability to choose which ecosystem they use, referring to Android vs. iOS. "There's a lot of evidence in this trial that in the fore-market of devices, it's Apple's business strategy to create a particular kind of ecosystem that is attractive to purchasers," Judge Rogers said.Another focus of today's closing session was anti-steering. This refers to Apple's guidelines that state developers are not allowed to "steer" customers to make digital purchases outside of the App Store. Here, Judge Rogers specifically referenced an anti-steering credit card case that previously made it to the United States Supreme Court.Judge Rogers also pressed Epic specifically on potential remedies. "I still don't understand where you expect this to go," she said at one point. Epic's lawyer explained that Apple does not have to give away access to the iPhone ecosystem but rather get rid of restrictions that are specifically anti-competitive.Judge Rogers noted that Epic, however, likely does have "ulterior motives" in this case. "Epic is here because if relief is granted, they go from a multibillion-dollar company to a maybe-trillion-dollar company, who knows. But they won't do it out of the kindness of their heart," she said.
As far as when Rogers will hand down her ruling, that is still unknown. The judge joked that it may be August 13, a reference to the date that Epic initially rolled out its hotfix to the Fortnite app that caused it to be booted from the App Store, igniting the entire lawsuit. However, Rogers did not provide an actual expectation on when a decision will be made.
