The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals was not convinced by the arguments of the tech giant Apple’s claim that security startup Corellium Inc infringed the company’s copyrights by simulating its iOS operating system in order to help researchers find security flaws in Apple devices, reported Reuters.
The US Appeals bench said Corellium has recreated Apple's system lawfully and under the US copyright doctrine of fair use. The company has furthered scientific progress by aiding important security research.
The software by Florida-based Corellium allows users to run iOS on non-Apple devices and check or modify the operating system in such a way that users or security researchers can search for vulnerabilities more effectively. The tech giant had filed a case against Corellium for copyright infringement in South Florida federal court in 2019.
Apple made attempts to purchase Corellium
The appeals court during the hearing also added that Apple has also made attempts to purchase Corellium for nearly $23 million before filing the lawsuit but was unsuccessful.
The district court in 2020 had dismissed the company’s claims over Corellium's iOS simulator, but Apple in 2021 made another appeal.
Appeal court says fair use of iOS
On Monday the 11th Circuit agreed that Corellium made fair use of iOS and it further said that the said software by Corellium also adds new features enabling security researchers to "do their work in a way that physical iPhones just can't."
The appeals court on May 8, 2023 rejected Apple's arguments that Corellium in order to make profit had simply repackaged iOS in a different format which is harming Apple's operating system market and its security-research programmes.
The court also added that the software by Corellium "opened the door for deeper security research into operating systems like iOS."
Case sent back to district court to check violation of copyright for icon
The appeals court on Monday sent the case back to the district court to check if Corellium had infringed copyrights that cover Apple's icons and wallpapers or if the software had contributed to infringement by third parties.
