Apple Lawsuit Against Corellium Partially Dismissed

Last August, Apple initiated legal action against Corellium, a virtualization software firm, initially asserting copyright infringement. The company subsequently broadened its accusations to include violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Although the DMCA allegations remain subject to judicial resolution, a Florida judge has dismissed Apple’s copyright assertions.

What does Corellium offer? In essence, Corellium provides security researchers with the capability to launch a virtualized ARM device – encompassing iOS devices – within a web browser, enabling a thorough examination of its internal workings to identify potential security vulnerabilities. As previously discussed:

Judge Rodney Smith stated in a court document filed earlier today, as initially reported by the Washington Post:

Judge Smith points to Corellium’s functionalities, such as “(1) the ability to view and stop active processes; (2) kernel modification capabilities; (3) utilization of CoreTrace for system call monitoring; (4) the inclusion of an application browser and a file browser; and (5) the capacity to create live snapshots,” as evidence that the product is “not simply a re-presentation of iOS” and qualifies as fair use.

The judge also highlighted the fact that Apple had previously explored the possibility of purchasing Corellium as a key consideration in the case.

Furthermore:

While this ruling resolves the copyright claims (with potential appeals still possible), the DMCA claims were not addressed with the same expediency. Apple contends that Corellium circumvents established authentication protocols and security measures. Corellium, however, maintains that these protections are implemented at the hardware level and that the iOS IPSW files they utilize are “unencrypted, unsecured, unlocked, and publicly available for access, copying, modification, distribution, performance, and display.”