Judge warns Epic Games, Apple attorneys to cut the ‘nastiness’ in lawsuit

CARY – Lawyers representing Epic Games and Apple in their antitrust suit to cool the “nastiness” in the case.

The federal judge in the case on Monday issued the warning.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has scheduled a bench trial for next May.

The lawsuit has grown increasingly more bitter as the longtime business partners fight over Apple’s ban of Epic Games’ popular Fortnite from its app store in a fight on 30% fees Apple charges for in-app purchases.

On Oct. 9, the judge refused to lift Apple’s ban on Fortnite, saying Epic had suffered a “self-inflicted wound” by creating a workaround for the Apple fee that triggered Apple’s ban.

However, Rogers also let stand her decision that Apple could not ban all Epic activities from the store, including its Unreal game development engine.

“Epic Games cannot simply exclaim ‘monopoly’ to rewrite agreements giving itself unilateral benefit,” Gonzalez Rogers wrote in partly denying Epic Games’ request for a preliminary injunction, according to Courthouse News Service.

Law360 reported the judge’s “nasiness” story.