NewsBytes Briefing: Epic's Unreal Engine gets legal protection, and more
Since last night, the case between Apple and Epic Games has progressed. They faced-off in an online hearing and explained their respective sides to the judge, who issued a temporary restraining order to protect Epic's Unreal Engine, but not Fortnite - which is already banned by Apple. Under the ruling, Apple cannot terminate Epic's developer accounts or restrict Unreal Engine Here are more updates.
Unity filed to go public
As Epic fought to keep Unreal Engine alive, its biggest rival Unity, the maker of the Unity Game Engine, filed to go public. Though Epic has been aggressive against Unity, numbers suggest that the latter has been leading the game. In 2019, it powered more than half of the top games on Android, iOS, PC, and consoles.
TikTok sued Trump administration
TikTok on Monday sued the Trump administration for banning transactions with its parent company ByteDance. It alleged that the executive order imposing the ban violates due process protections of the Fifth Amendment, breaches the scope of sanctions' rules, and offers no evidence proving that TikTok is a national security threat. "The executive order is not rooted in bonafide national security concerns," the complaint emphasized.
Triller, TikTok's rival, partnered with Reliance's JioSaavn
Triller, TikTok's biggest rival in the US, announced a partnership with Reliance Industries' music app JioSaavn. As part of the deal, JioSaavn will show Triller videos "front and center" and also provide a prominent button to let Indians create short Triller videos. The move comes as several firms, including Facebook and Times Internet, continue to race to take now-banned TikTok's spot in India.
Other important updates to note
Among other things, Apple teased a new retail store - Marina Bay Sands in Singapore - that looks like a giant orb floating on the water. In another news, Zoom deployed a fix to get its service up and running after a 3-hour-long outage, while TikTok faced a lawsuit from Vietnamese technology firm VNG over copyright infringement in connection to music use.
Finally, some COVID-19 updates
India on Monday reported a little under 60,000 coronavirus infections, taking the nationwide tally to 31.64 lakh. The death toll rose to 58,565 with over 800 new fatalities. As for vaccine development, America's top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against fast-tracked approvals of COVID-19 vaccines, while WHO emphasized the importance of providing first shots to at-risk groups like healthcare workers, senior citizens.
