The legal dispute between Epic Games and Apple will go to trial in May 2021, which is a little earlier than the July 2021 date that was previously being touted.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has set a bench trial date of May 3, 2021, meaning both companies have succeeded in avoiding a jury trial. 

Epic and Apple have been clashing over the latter's decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store, with Apple pulling the popular battle royale shooter from its platforms after Epic added an unsanctioned payment method in a bid to avoid platform fees. 

As it stands, Rogers has found that Apple is well within its rights to ban Fortnite from the App Store, but Epic still maintains that Apple's refusal to allow external storefronts or payment methods on iOS is anti-competitive behavior.

The case scheduling and pretrial order, which you can read in full here, explains the May date was picked to accommodate the backlog created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.