Tim Cook ordered to sit for 7-hour deposition in Epic vs. Apple case

[midian182]

In brief: Being the CEO of a company valued at $2.25 trillion means Tim Cook is a very busy man, but he'll need to clear seven hours from his schedule to sit for a deposition in Epic Games' upcoming lawsuit against Apple.

To recap, the messy situation began last summer when Epic Games attempted to circumvent Apple's 30 percent App Store 'tax' by introducing the Epic Direct Payment option for Fortnite. An outraged Cupertino quickly removed the game from its App Store, claiming the addition was a violation of store policy. In response, Epic filed a lawsuit and created a short animation called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite that mocks Apple's famous 1984 commercial directed by Ridley Scott—check out the Blade Runner director's opinion of Epic's version.

Epic Games had wanted to depose Cook for eight hours, according to court documents. As reported by Gizmodo, Apple's lawyers tried to get the CEO out of the deposition by citing the apex doctrine, before offering a compromise of four hours.

California judge Thomas S. Hixon said that seven hours is the length of time "a witness must suffer being deposed," adding that any longer would be "unjustified."

Apple also asked to subpoena internal documents from Samsung, but the request was denied. Apple wanted to prove its App Store rules and practices aren't unique to the firm. Judge Hixon said Epic Games' arrangement with Samsung "cannot serve as a stand-in for some larger category of market participants."

Cook's sworn, out-of-court testimony could be used in the trial between Apple and Epic Games, which begins in May.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/88486-tim-cook-ordered-sit-7-hour-deposition-epic.html

 

[psycros]

A 30% cut is pretty absurd any way you look at it - that's like what the IRS takes from your paycheck. Apple, Google, Facebook..all these tech dynasties are too powerful now. Worse, they all serve the same political agenda.

 

[Hardware Geek]

Hopefully this forces apple to allow competing app stores or app installation without an app store requirement.

Edit: Even better would be both.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

A 30% cut is pretty absurd any way you look at it - that's like what the IRS takes from your paycheck. Apple, Google, Facebook..all these tech dynasties are too powerful now. Worse, they all serve the same political agenda.

Lol either you make a lot of money or you don’t pay attention to your own taxes. The IRS takes less than 15% off my own income. I think Apple should take a cut of something closer to that.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Lol either you make a lot of money or you don’t pay attention to your own taxes. The IRS takes less than 15% off my own income. I think Apple should take a cut of something closer to that.

Perhaps they already do make more money. In case you aren't aware the income tax rate is "progressive" (I.e., it goes up with income).

So the marginal rate above 40K is 22% (up from 12%) and once you break 163K it rises from 24% to 32% eventually topping out 37% (although Biden's campaigned budget suggested raising this to around 42%).

You can be focused on making money and still be annoyed to hand the Federal government $80K+ a year.

 

[Uncle Al]

Apple is at the point that they seriously need to be broken up into a minimum of 6 different companies with NO stock ownership by any of the 6 in the other 6. Along with several other hi-tech companies, they have become far too powerful and abusive .....

 

[Kosmoz]

A lot of people are still giving Epic a lot of flak, which is subjectively justified in some regards, but when it comes to Epic vs Apple I can only be 100% for Epic in this case... For me it's clearly the lesser of 2 evils.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Perhaps they already do make more money. In case you aren't aware the income tax rate is "progressive" (I.e., it goes up with income).

So the marginal rate above 40K is 22% (up from 12%) and once you break 163K it rises from 24% to 32% eventually topping out 37% (although Biden's campaigned budget suggested raising this to around 42%).

You can be focused on making money and still be annoyed to hand the Federal government $80K+ a year.

Oh I’m well aware of how the tax brackets work here in the US. Though perhaps you’re not aware that in order to have an effective federal income tax rate of 30% like he was suggesting, you’d have to make over $500k a year or $1M a year if you’re married. And the tax brackets you mention are of taxable income, which is not your full income but after a minimum standard deduction of $12k off your income. So for someone to hit the 32% marginal tax rate, they would instead need an income of $178k and would only pay 19% of taxes still (people who are married would need to make double that).

Of course that’s not the only tax that you pay, but the federal income tax is way more forgivable than you make it out to be. People who are making $320k a year can be annoyed that they’re paying $80k a year in taxes, but no one is going to cry for them.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Oh I’m well aware of how the tax brackets work here in the US. Though perhaps you’re not aware that in order to have an effective federal income tax rate of 30% like he was suggesting, you’d have to make over $500k a year or $1M a year if you’re married. And the tax brackets you mention are of taxable income, which is not your full income but after a minimum standard deduction of $12k off your income. So for someone to hit the 32% marginal tax rate, they would instead need an income of $178k and would only pay 19% of taxes still (people who are married would need to make double that).

Of course that’s not the only tax that you pay, but the federal income tax is way more forgivable than you make it out to be. People who are making $320k a year can be annoyed that they’re paying $80k a year in taxes, but no one is going to cry for them.

And yet people making $80K often cry about how much they have to pay in taxes. It's always easier to spend someone else's money.

And once you take into account disappearing deductions and credits (or not getting covid payouts) you find that the line for the "evil rich" starts around $100K of income. Which, while above the median income, is certainly not rich - especially living in a city with a higher cost of living.

Also the original post was comparing government taxes to the 30% Apple tax not claiming an effective federal income tax of 30%.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Also the original post was comparing government taxes to the 30% Apple tax not claiming an effective federal income tax of 30%.

"A 30% cut is pretty absurd any way you look at it - that's like what the IRS takes from your paycheck."

No, they were claiming a 30% incoming tax by the federal government (IRS).

 

[punctualturn]

Sideloading needs to be forced on Apple.

I say this as a frustrated ipad pro owner.

 

[terzaerian]

I just wish there were a way to insure both the plaintiff and the defendant in this case lost.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

"A 30% cut is pretty absurd any way you look at it - that's like what the IRS takes from your paycheck."

No, they were claiming a 30% incoming tax by the federal government (IRS).

You should look up the word 'like'. It's an important qualifier.

 

[mbrowne5061]

You should look up the word 'like'. It's an important qualifier.

Definition of LIKE

to feel attraction toward or take pleasure in : enjoy; to feel toward : regard; to wish to have : want… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

like
adjective
Definition of like (Entry 3 of 9)
1a: the same or nearly the same (as in appearance, character, or quantity)
//suits of like design
—formerly used with as, unto, of
// it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren
— Hebrews 2:17 (King James Version)
1 b: chiefly British : closely resembling the subject or original
—the portrait is very like

Sounds me that they meant "like" to mean "nearly the same". I would suggest double-checking in the future before you try to argue about dictionary definitions.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Definition of LIKE

to feel attraction toward or take pleasure in : enjoy; to feel toward : regard; to wish to have : want… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

like
adjective
Definition of like (Entry 3 of 9)
1a: the same or nearly the same (as in appearance, character, or quantity)
//suits of like design
—formerly used with as, unto, of
// it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren
— Hebrews 2:17 (King James Version)
1 b: chiefly British : closely resembling the subject or original
—the portrait is very like

Sounds me that they meant "like" to mean "nearly the same". I would suggest double-checking in the future before you try to argue about dictionary definitions.

You should have kept reading. Here's the next entry with two highlights:

Definition of like (Entry 4 of 9)
1a: having the characteristics of : similar to
his house is like a barn
it's like when we were kids
b: typical of
was like him to do that
c: comparable to : APPROXIMATING
costs something like fifty cents

You don't you think when someone says 'his house is like a barn' they mean 'his house IS a barn' do you? Of course not.

Could it possibly be that someone saying the 30% Apple cut which is even commonly called the "Apple Tax" is similar in characteristics to the income tax and which also happens to be APPROXIMATELY 30% for some people?
Maybe.
Just maybe.