Apple will have to work hard this weekend to meet a legal deadline set for Monday. American judge Thomas S. Hixson on Friday rejected the Cupertino company’s request for more time to provide 1.3 million documents related to changes to the App Store made in January to comply with a decision of justice of 2021 in the case against Epic Games.
A deadline known since May
During a hearing on May 31, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Apple, told Apple’s legal team that it would have to produce all documents relating to how which she had decided on the new rules of the App Store, after their challenge by Epic.
The collection of the documents was then entrusted to Judge Hixson, who had set the deadline of September 30 in August. He had demanded that Apple use the search strings offered by Epic to gather the documents and that the two companies provide progress reports every two weeks.
Apple underestimated the number of documents
Only in Thursday’s report did Apple request additional time to review the documents, as it had initially estimated it would only have to produce 650,000. Calling the last-minute request “bad behavior”, Judge Hixson rejected Apple’s request.
He pointed out that with the resources Apple has, it “could probably review that many documents in a weekend” if it wanted. But quickly producing these parts “presents nothing but disadvantages for Apple,” given their connection to Epic’s allegations that the company had not actually complied with Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ injunction.
“Monday is indeed the deadline”
“It’s up to Apple to figure out how to meet that deadline, but Monday is definitely the deadline,” Judge Hixson concluded. The Apple firm will therefore have to work extra hard this weekend to avoid being sanctioned for non-compliance with a court decision.
This new development shows that more than two years after the highly publicized trial against Epic Games, the legal saga is far from over for Apple. The legal battle over App Store rules, which the video game giant considers anti-competitive, is more relevant than ever. And obviously, justice intends for Apple to play the game of transparency to the end.
