Approximately 20 hours before the deadline Judge Edward Chen gave Apple to respond to Epic Games’ motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) with respect to Epic Games’ access to the App Store and Apple’s developer tools, two high-profile L.A.-based antitrust lawyers at the Gibson Dunn firm appeared (electronically) before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California as counsel for Apple, according to FOSS Patents.
Gibson Dunn frequently represents Apple as well as parties whose interests are aligned with Apple’s. The first Epic Games v. Apple court clash is presently scheduled to take place on Monday in the form of a Zoom videoconference.
Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, is asking the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California “to stop this retaliation.” You can read the company’s legal motion here.
On Aug. 13, Epic Games announced that it had introduced a new direct payment option in the Fortnite app for iPhone and iPad, allowing players to purchase 1000 V-Bucks for US$7.99 rather than $9.99 through Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism. Shortly thereafter, Apple removed the gamer from the App Store. Epic immediately filed a lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
