Apple and Epic Games are locked in an epic legal (and PR) battle that may determine the future of the App Store, the Google Play Store, and several other game distribution networks. At the heart of this debate is the disproportionate influence the app store owner has over the apps in their store, including demanding a hefty cut of the app maker’s profits. How did we get to this place? How does this distort the market for software? When did “contempt of business model” become a felony? Today I’ll discuss this and more with EFF’s Cory Doctorow.

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. He is the author of RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults, a YA graphic novel called IN REAL LIFE, the nonfiction business book INFORMATION DOESN’T WANT TO BE FREE, and young adult novels like HOMELAND, PIRATE CINEMA and LITTLE BROTHER. His latest book is POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER, a picture book for young readers. His next book is ATTACK SURFACE, an adult sequel to LITTLE BROTHER. He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles.