A U.S. appeals court rejected Apple Inc.'s attempt to convince the court that security startup Corellium Inc. violated its copyrights by emulating its iOS operating system to assist researchers in discovering security vulnerabilities in Apple devices.
According to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Corellium's recreation of Apple's system was legal under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright code, advancing science by facilitating crucial security research.
Requests for comments on the choice were not immediately answered by company representatives.
The software from Florida-based Corellium enables users to run iOS on non-Apple devices, analyze, and modify the operating system in ways that make it easier for security researchers to look for flaws. Apple did file a federal lawsuit against Corellium in South Florida for copyright infringement, in 2019.
Corellium "opened the door for deeper security research into operating systems like iOS," the circuit court said.
According to the appeals court, Apple made an unsuccessful attempt to purchase Corellium for close to $23 million, before initiating the complaint.
The district court rejected Apple's arguments, in 2020, regarding Corellium's iOS simulator. In 2021, Apple appealed.
On Monday, the 11th Circuit determined that Corellium used iOS fairly and added additional features to its software that enable security researchers to "do their work in a way that physical iPhones just can't."
Apple claimed in the complaint that Corellium merely repackaged iOS in a different format for financial gain, damaging the market for its operating system and its security-research initiatives. This claim was then dismissed by the appeals court.
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