Apple vs Epic Games legal battle, judge says Tim Cook must face 7 hour deposition in Apple vs Epic Games legal battle, judge says As reported by Gizmodo, the court documents reveal that Epic Games had originally wanted to depose Cook for eight hours. Apple then cited the apex doctrine, which can prevent high-level executives from being deposed at all, before conceding to four hours.
The judge in the case, however, has decided that Cook can be deposed by Epic Games for seven hours:
According to Judge Thomas S. Hixon, however, “this dispute is less than meets the eye.” Hixon writes that the apex doctrine “limits the length of a deposition, rather than barring it altogether,” and that given the circumstances, the dispute is a question of whether Cook should be deposed for “four hours, eight hours, or some length of time in between.” Hence, Hixon’s ruling that Cook should be deposed for seven hours.
As for where Hixon got seven hours from, the judge writes it’s the default rule for “how long a witness must suffer being deposed.” Hixon also Hixon also argues that the apex doctrine focuses on whether a witness has a “unique, non-repetitive knowledge of the facts of the case.” When it comes to Apple’s app store policies—which are at the center of this seemingly never-ending case against Epic—Hixon writes “there is really no one like Apple’s CEO who can testify about how Apple views competition in these various markets that are core to its business model.”