Apple likened to real estate agent, landlord and carmaker as Epic Games trial kicks off
Epic Games' 16-week mega trial against Apple and Google has kicked off in Melbourne in front of a packed courtroom including some of the country's most prominent lawyers.
It was almost standing room only today in Melbourne's Federal Court as the competition law trial of the year between Fortnite-maker Epic Games and tech giants Apple and Google kicked off.
But few of the heavyweight attendees in the court room including Corrs Chambers Westgarth's Mark McCowan and Allens' chair Fiona Crosbie would have predicted that the world's second most valuable tech company would in the space of a few short hours be compared to a shopping centre owner, real estate agent or even carmaker operating in a tyre-supply market.
But that's what happened when Epic's barrister Neil Young KC and Federal Court Judge Jonathan Beach debated what the best analogy is for the $US2.7 trillion tech giant's app store business actually is.
"So what is [Apple]? A shopping centre owner? It provides the structure in which consumers come in... is that a good analogy?" Beach asked.
