Hilarity Ensues When Court Forgets to Mute Participants in Apple v. Epic Call
The courtroom hosting Epic Games and Apple's court case learned an important life lesson today: Always mute participants in public calls. The trial for Apple v. Epic Games kicked off on Monday at 9:00 Pacific Standard Time (PST).
That day, the court hosted a public conference call, hoping to provide the public with statements from Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney.
The conference call kicked off at 9:15 PST but didn't get moving before 9:30. This delay was because of the numerous fans that had flooded the call. The additional attendees made it nearly impossible to hear anything going on in the courtroom.
For fifteen glorious minutes, Fortnite and Apple fans had their chance to communicate directly with the participants in the trial. So naturally, what they did was laugh, play music, and make jokes. Most of this could not be clearly heard by listeners, so what resulted was a mangled mess of audio connection issues and noise.
What people did catch, however, was thoroughly entertaining. Between the shouts of "Free Fortnite!" and questions about when mobile would return, someone in the call began playing Travis Scott music. This music was hard to hear and in very low quality, as the conference line wasn't made for so many audio connections.
There were even some people discussing how the case would turn out in the call. The fifteen minutes that the lines were unmuted was a time for fans of both companies to discuss their opinions, which many listeners were not expecting.
While many people tuned into the conference line to hear Sweeney's statements and witness testimony, they didn't actually get to hear any of it over all the commotion. Well, at least not until 9:30 PST, when the issue was resolved.
At first, it seemed as if the court would try to proceed with the conference call, despite the presence of the very vocal fans. However, the attendees proved to be too loud for the call to continue as usual.
Court staff spent the next several minutes trying to individually mute users, which didn't seem to be doing much of anything. Since participants could just leave and rejoin the call, muting individually didn't help.
These 15 minutes of technical difficulties took the internet by storm. People lucky enough to get audio from the call posted it to social media, where it was shared throughout most of the day.
Even though the audio mishap only occurred for 15 minutes, it was enough to solidify the court case in the eyes of Fortnite and Apple fans. It also caught global attention, even reaching gamers that lived outside of the trial's location of the United States.
Because of this, more people tried to tune into the call to catch the commotion. These extra participants had the added effect of attributing to even lower call quality. The conference line was already stretched thin with so many online participants, so extra spectators definitely took its toll on the quality.
Many users took to social media to discuss these call quality issues. The issues were so intrusive that many didn't know what was going on at all.
The poor call quality was just the tip of the iceberg in the conference call, as many participants were still unmuted. For another few minutes, court staff battled with the conference call system while the public spoke their mind on this new public forum.
Eventually, the court staff were able to mute the call's participants. Since the proceedings were taking place physically, this was easy to do, as none of the call's participants were involved directly in the trial. Once the call was muted, Tim Sweeney provided his statements to the court.
While many were excited to hear Sweeney speak, most were confused at what had happened prior. This call marked one of the first times that this had happened in the United States Court System, which had taken everyone by surprise. The participants didn't know it at the time, but they made internet history with their remarks at the Apple v. Epic Games conference call.
These conference calls are set to occur every day at 9:15 PST. There will most likely not be any problems with the audio in future editions of the conference call, as court staff saw this could never occur again. Fans remain hopeful, however, for another chance to voice their opinions. Many have gone to social media to speculate or laugh at Monday's events.
While the trial will not wrap up for at least three weeks, many gamers hope for a positive resolution. Most Fortnite fans seem to stand behind Epic Games' actions against Apple, while many Apple fans just hope Epic Games will eventually simmer down. Fans of both Apple and Epic Games can agree that this case has the potential to change the mobile landscape forever. If Apple is deemed a monopoly, this could bring serious changes to the world of gaming. If it is not, Apple will continue as usual until another case crops up.
Until then, people are enjoying reliving the chaotic conference call on social media. The trial may be uncertain, but it has generated plenty of historic memes and jokes that have already made their rounds on social media. With so much excitement in just the first day, many anticipate what will become of the trial as it unfolds.
All we know is that the courtroom has learned a powerful lesson: be sure to mute mics before beginning an event. Failure to do so could result in chaos, confusion, and plenty of memes.
Images via Epic Games
