Apple has been fighting with Corellium in the courts since August 2019 after the virtualization company started selling virtual iOS devices to security researchers. Following its first defeat last year, Apple is now dropping the copyright lawsuit against Corellium and its virtualization software.
The news was first shared by the Washington Post, which claims that both companies have reached an agreement. Although Corellium sent an email to its sales team saying that its virtual iOS devices will remain for sale, the terms of the agreement with Apple are confidential. Both companies declined to comment publicly on the matter.
Corellium was previously facing the prospect of years of expensive and drawn out legal action, and many in the security research community saw the lawsuit as having a chilling effect on independent research.
Corellium’s software lets security experts run virtualized iOS devices for research purposes. In a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida, Apple claimed that the company was infringing its copyright by selling a copy of iOS without authorization. Apple also claimed that hackers could use Corellium’s platform to find ways to hack iPhones and iPads.
Despite its attempts, Apple faced a major defeat in December 2020 when a federal judge said Corellium “had established fair use for using Apple’s code.” The Cupertino-based company continued to seek an injunction to stop Corellium from selling virtual iOS devices, but now Apple has decided to drop the case.
Earlier this year, Corellium’s platform became available to individual subscribers. Previously, only users with enterprise accounts were able to request a virtualized iOS device. According to the company, each request is reviewed individually to avoid the use of the software for malicious purposes.
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