Technology giant Apple has lost its copyright claim to Corellium, Florida, which is engaged in the production of so-called virtual iPhones, usually deployed by its system security research team to test system vulnerabilities.
Apple believes that Corellium LLC copied the operating system, graphical user interface and other aspects of the device without permission.
The company also accused Corellium of concealing facts that helped find bugs in Apple’s iPhone operating system, thereby selling privileged information. Corellium is accused of selling such unauthorized information to the highest bidder on the open market.
West Palm Beach District Court Judge Rodney Smith pointed out in Tuesday’s ruling that Corellium’s actions are an exception to copyright law because it created a new virtual platform for iOS and added that Apple devices could not be Functions used.
The judge pointed out that the fact that Corellium sold its products did not take any form. Undermine its fair use defense, especially considering the public interest generated by selling the product.
Apple currently has a hacker reward program designed to reward advanced hackers who discover vulnerabilities in their systems.
The company believes that Corellium products go far beyond its own hacker reward program, even though Corellium says it evaluates potential customers and can reject certain customers.
Corellium stated that its customers come from government agencies, financial institutions and security researchers, and further accused Apple of trying to control security research to limit public understanding of system vulnerabilities, thereby hindering its operations.
Court documents show that Apple has been discussing the acquisition of the company, but the negotiations broke down after the two parties failed to reach a consensus on the price. The lawsuit began a year after negotiations broke down.
Corellium’s virtual products are currently being used on desktop computers, and currently cannot be used as phones to make calls, send text messages or perform any other operations that the iPhone can perform.
The judge insisted that there is sufficient evidence to support Corellium’s claim that the product has been used in security research, and further emphasized that if Apple successfully acquires the company, Apple will use the product in internal security tests.
Officials from the two companies have not yet commented on the court decision. Similar to the multi-billion dollar battle between Apple and Oracle Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google division, the latter rejected Google’s argument that it has the right to copy Oracle code for inclusion in Google in the Court of Appeals , Is now handled by the US Supreme Court. Android operating system. However, Judge Smith ruled that the two cases are not comparable.
The judge said that Corellium may still violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the use of tools to circumvent security measures, so he refused to dismiss this aspect of the case in the ruling. He ordered both parties to submit a status report before January 11, 2021 to determine how the case proceeded
