Apple lost court case against startup Corellium

In 2019, Apple took legal action against Florida-based startup Corellium, claiming it was protecting the rights to its iOS operating system. Now the media have reported that Apple has finally lost the Corellium trial. The fact is that the developers of Corellium created virtual machines with iOS, while Apple did not like that someone copied its operating system.

The company argued that iOS “virtualization” constituted copyright infringement. The lawsuit stated that Corellium is offering a virtual version of the company’s mobile devices, copying iOS and iTunes, including the graphical interface and code.

Apple has stated that Corellium is not licensed or authorized to do this, and the startup’s actions constitute copyright infringement.

Let me remind you that ProtonMail developers say Apple is holding us all as hostages.

Information about Corellium is limited. In 2018, Forbes described it as a super-stealthy startup that created “a true hacker’s paradise for Apple.” Corellium’s first client was Azimuth Security, a small Australian company, which, according to Vice Motherboard, provides legitimate hacking tools to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The Corellium developers claimed to have created only a research tool useful for finding vulnerabilities and other problems in Apple software. Representatives of the IT giant did not agree with this:

“Not only does Corellium fail to help fix vulnerabilities, it also encourages its users to sell any information they find on the free market to the highest bidder. The purpose of this lawsuit is not to create predicaments to decent security research, but to put an end to Corellium’s illegal commercialization of valuable and copyrighted Apple products”, — the lawsuit says.

The litigation between the companies lasted a year and a half, but in the end the court took the side of a startup.

District Judge Rodney Smith ruled that Corellium’s work to find security issues in Apple’s software was “fair use” of copyrighted material. In his opinion, the conscientious use of such materials only contributes to the “advancement of science and technical skills”, especially since Corellium checks all of its buyers before making a deal. Apple’s argument that Corellium sold its product to everyone he called “confusing, if not false.”

“There is evidence in the protocol to support Corellium’s position that its product is for security research and that Apple recognizes it can indeed be used for security research. In addition, Apple itself would have used this product for internal testing if it had successfully acquired the company”, — says the judge, recalling that in 2018 Apple were talks that Apple would buy a startup.

We also talked about the fact that Apple security chief was accused of attempted bribery of police officers.