Corellium Notches Partial Victory in Apple iOS Copyright Case
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
Corellium notches partial victory in Apple iOS copyright case:
Security firm Corellium, which develops software that researchers can use to analyze Apple products, has been handed a partial victory in Apple's lawsuit against it, as a judge ruled that its creation of virtual iOS environments does not violate Apple's copyrights.
Corellium has since 2017 been creating iOS environments that can run on desktop computers, for use as a research and development tool. Apple sued Corellium in 2019, alleging, "Corellium's true goal is profiting off its blatant infringement" of iOS, and claiming that the firm "encourages its users to sell any discovered information [about system vulnerabilities] on the open market to the highest bidder."
Earlier this year, Apple amended the suit to include allegations that Corellium's work violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) prohibition circumventing or breaking DRM.
US District Judge Rodney Smith for the US District Court for Southern Florida yesterday issued his ruling (PDF) in the case, denying Apple's motion for summary judgement, and granting part, but not all, of Corellium's motion for same, finding that Corellium's actions were fair use but "issues of material facts" still exist.
[...] Even though Smith found Corellium was engaging in fair use as far as the copyright claim, he rejected the fair use argument as far as the 1201 claim goes. "Here, if the court were to adopt Corellium's position that fair use is a defense to Apple's DMCA claim, that would effectively render Section 1201 meaningless," Smith wrote. "Therefore, Corellium may make fair use of iOS, but it is not absolved of potential liability for allegedly employing circumvention tools to unlawfully access iOS or elements of iOS."
The legal proceedings related to the Section 1201 claim, therefore, will continue into the new year.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.