Apple v. Epic Games trial starts with all eyes watching

The Apple v. Epic trial gets underway today in a virtual hearing in federal court. It’s fair to say this is the trial of century between a platform owner and a game maker, and the consequences for both types of companies could be enormous.

The antitrust case is a struggle about whether Apple can make the rules for its App Store, or whether the actions alleged by Epic Games amount to monopolistic practices. On Friday, Epic got some support, as the European Union for the first time accused Apple of antitrust violations in how it dealt with Spotify in the music streaming market. Spotify and Epic are both members of a 14-company group called the Coalition for App Fairness that has accused Apple of anti-competitive practices.