Last August, Apple filed a lawsuit against the virtualization company Corellium, which allows users to virtualize iOS for security research purposes. Now a judge has dismissed Apple’s allegations that Corellium’s virtualization tools violate copyright law.
Apple also argued that if the wrong person used Corellium’s virtualization tools, the vulnerabilities discovered with the tool could be used to hack iPhones. The judge in the case, Judge Rodney Smith, called Apple’s allegations “enigmatic, if not unobstructed.”
As reported by The Washington Post, a federal judge in Florida, sided with Corellium, saying the company had instituted fair use for the use of Apple’s code, denying Apple’s request for a permanent order against the startup of the security .
“Taking into account all the necessary factors, the court finds that Corellium has imposed its burden on achieving equitable use,” Judge Smith wrote Tuesday’s order. “The use of iOS in connection with the Corellium product is therefore permissible.”
Corellium is a security research platform that allows users to run virtualized versions of iOS on desktop computers. This facilitates the process of finding bugs and vulnerabilities in the operating system, but Apple has argued that Corellium infringes its copyright by offering this virtualization technology.
Interestingly, The Washington Post Apple’s allegation that Corellium “circumvented the security measures” and violated the DMCA has not yet been dismissed:
According to court records, Apple initially tried to acquire Corellium in 2018. When the acquisition talks came to a standstill, Apple sued Corellium last year, claiming that its virtual iPhones, which contain only the features needed for security research, are a violation of copyright law. Apple also claims that Corellium circumvented Apple’s security measures to create the software, thereby violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The claim was not dropped.
Apple’s lawsuit against Corellium came after the company significantly refurbished its bug bounty program last year with higher payouts and a new device program offering researchers what are essentially ‘iPhones broken before jail’.
FTC: We use revenue to earn automatically affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: