This article may contain affiliate links. Learn more on our Partner Program page.
In the US antitrust case against Apple, the court has extended the timeline. At the same time, Apple and the Justice Department are increasingly involving third-party companies in the evidence gathering. Nine of them are now in dispute over documents, including Samsung, Epic Games, and Garmin.
Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre signed an amended schedule (case number 2:24-cv-04055, document 596) for the proceedings before the federal court in New Jersey on November 6. The U.S. Department of Justice, the participating states, and Apple had jointly requested the extension in October. Two days earlier, the deadline had expired by which the parties had agreed to report which companies they could not reach an agreement with regarding requested documents. The lawsuit has been ongoing since March 2024; most recently, it concerned the dispute over the deadline for Apple's internal documents.
Key Facts at a Glance
- The taking of evidence regarding the facts will now run until May 28, 2027 instead of January 29, 2027.
- All deadlines for expert opinions are also being pushed back by around four months, with the last one ending on November 19, 2027.
- On November 4th, nine notices of a stalemate were received from companies that are not parties to the proceedings.
- The issue at Samsung is whether the US subsidiary must also provide documents from the parent company in South Korea.
- On Monday, November 9th, the court will hold a video conference at 4:30 pm German time to discuss the further course of action.
The new schedule at a glance
The ruling changes the previous timeline of the proceedings. It also stipulates that the plaintiffs must submit the substantial portion of their outstanding documents by December 15, 2026, and Apple must submit its structured data by December 11, 2026. Interviews with third parties must be completed by April 30, 2027.
| Deadline | Until now | New |
|---|---|---|
| End of taking of evidence. Facts | January 29, 2027 | May 28, 2027 |
| Answers to Contention Interrogatories | February 12, 2027 | June 11, 2027 |
| Expert opinions of the parties | March 5, 2027 | July 2, 2027 |
| Counter-report | April 19, 2027 | August 16, 2027 |
| Response report | May 17, 2027 | September 13, 2027 |
| End of evidence presentation. Expert opinion. | July 9, 2027 | November 5, 2027 |
| Answers with reference to expert opinions | July 23, 2027 | November 19, 2027 |
A trial date has still not been set. Contention interrogatories are written questions used by one side to try to pin down the other's line of argument.
Nine disputes with companies outside the proceedings
On November 4, notices of a stalemate were filed with the court concerning Samsung Electronics America, Epic Games, Garmin, Oura, Ultrahuman, PayPal, Playco, Roblox, and Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky. Eight of these relate to requests from Apple; the one concerning Roblox comes from the Department of Justice and the states.
With Samsung, the dispute ties in with a step taken in the spring. In May, Apple was allowed to take the route via the Hague Evidence Convention to request documents from Samsung Electronics in South Korea. Now Apple and the US subsidiary are disputing (Document 593) whether it must hand over documents that, according to Samsung, are held solely by the parent company. Samsung has agreed to search the files of two managers, which yielded almost 900,000 hits. Apple wants to include six additional people, among them the current and former heads of the US subsidiary.
From Epic Games, Apple is demanding (Document 591) documents from three other proceedings: Epic v. Apple in the US and in Australia, as well as Epic v. Google. Epic does not see itself at an impasse at all and is offering, among other things, contracts with Google and Samsung, Fortnite usage and revenue data, and statements on the Core Technology Fee. The US case between Epic and Apple has not yet concluded; in January, the hearing before the Supreme Court is scheduled.
Garmin resists questions about finances and strategy
Garmin is the only company on the list headquartered in Switzerland: its parent company, Garmin Ltd., has been registered in Schaffhausen since 2010. According to the joint statement (Document 587), Garmin considers Apple's requests for financial and strategic information irrelevant and disproportionate because some of the data is sensitive from a competitive standpoint. Apple refers to the court's protective order. Both sides agree on almost all other points of the request.
Game developer Playco is invoking freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Apple is demanding documentation detailing how Playco attempted to influence Apple's rules or initiate legislation to that effect. Garmin and Playco have requested that the stalemate not take effect until November 11th, allowing time for further negotiations.
What the extension means for the procedure
I consider the new timeline the real news, not the legal disputes. Four extra months for gathering evidence will delay everything else. As long as the evidence gathering process continues until November 2027, I don't expect a trial to begin before 2028. The legal disputes also demonstrate how broadly Apple is pursuing the case: Garmin, Oura, and Ultrahuman, three wearable manufacturers, are on the list, along with Samsung and Epic, two familiar opponents from other cases.
According to a ruling dated November 5 (Document 594), the court will hold a video conference with the parties on Monday at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 p.m. in Germany). The discussion will also address the deadline for Apple's internal documents, on which the court currently sees no stalemate.
Do you think that with four more months of evidence gathering, the proceedings are more likely to end in a settlement than in court? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
