In brief: Being the CEO of a company valued at $2.25 trillion means Tim Cook is a very busy man, but he'll need to clear seven hours from his schedule to sit for a deposition in Epic Games' upcoming lawsuit against Apple.
To recap, the messy situation began last summer when Epic Games attempted to circumvent Apple's 30 percent App Store 'tax' by introducing the Epic Direct Payment option for Fortnite. An outraged Cupertino quickly removed the game from its App Store, claiming the addition was a violation of store policy. In response, Epic filed a lawsuit and created a short animation called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite that mocks Apple's famous 1984 commercial directed by Ridley Scott---check out the Blade Runner director's opinion of Epic's version.
Epic Games had wanted to depose Cook for eight hours, according to court documents. As reported by Gizmodo, Apple's lawyers tried to get the CEO out of the deposition by citing the apex doctrine, before offering a compromise of four hours.
California judge Thomas S. Hixon said that seven hours is the length of time "a witness must suffer being deposed," adding that any longer would be "unjustified."
Apple also asked to subpoena internal documents from Samsung, but the request was denied. Apple wanted to prove its App Store rules and practices aren't unique to the firm. Judge Hixon said Epic Games' arrangement with Samsung "cannot serve as a stand-in for some larger category of market participants."
Cook's sworn, out-of-court testimony could be used in the trial between Apple and Epic Games, which begins in May.