Apple’s and Epic Games‘ lawyers will now face off in court on May 3, 2021, around two months earlier than the previously expected July court date.
AppleInsider reports The United States District Court of the Northern District of California has announced a trial date for Epic Games v Apple, Inc, of May 3, 2021, starting at 08:30 PT.
The trial now looks to be a bench trial rather than a jury one. However, the date was brought forward from July to avoid any potential scheduling conflicts with other jury trials.
In the full case scheduling and pretrial order, the court says that the new date has been set “considering myriad factors, including… the parties’ submissions… and the Court’s anticipated jury trial schedule in the summer of 2021 given the backlog created by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.”
In addition to the May 3, 2021 trial date, the court has also set multiple pre-trial dates for submissions from the two companies, rebuttals, and conferences.
“In addition, the Court is interested in the potential overlap with the Related Matters,” says the order. The Related Matters aspect refers to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s conclusion that the case is an important one “on the frontier of anti-trust law.”
Apple and Epic Games have been ordered to meet to “meet and confer with counsel” regarding matters related to the case. “By October 15, 2020, the parties shall jointly file one proposed agenda,” concludes the order.