SAN RAMON, Calif (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook will take the witness stand on Friday in a high-stakes courtroom battle.
Cook will be testifying in a trial over the lucrative commissions that the iPhone maker has been raking in from Apple's mobile app store that has become a cornerstone of its $2 trillion empire.
The maker of the popular video game Fortnite is trying to prove Apple's 15% to 30% commissions on transactions in iPhone apps are part of an illegal monopoly.
The trial is currently in its third week in an Oakland, California federal court, USA Today reported.
The maker of the game, Epic Games, filed the lawsuit last year after Apple dropped the game from its App store.
Apple removed the game after it says Epic created its own digital payment system, which Apple doesn't allow.
Epic Games said in a blog post last year that it was introducing Epic Direct payments, which was a direct-payment plan for Apple's iOS and Google Play that bypasses the App Store.
The timing of Cook's highly anticipated testimony was confirmed Wednesday when a federal judge granted Apple's request to allow the executive to be the first witness sworn in Friday during the trial in Oakland, California.