A California federal judge expressed skepticism Monday toward both Apple and Epic Games during an injunction hearing in their App Store antitrust fight, giving them a day to tell her if a judge or jury should decide the dispute and voicing her own preference for a July 2021 jury trial, reports Law360 (a subscription is required to read the entire article).
The legal brouhaha originated on Aug. 13 when 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.