Apple Drops Corellium Lawsuit

Apple has dropped its lawsuit against virtualisation software provider Corellium, and the two sides have reached an undisclosed settlement.

Corellium with its iOS virtualisation tool essentially allows customers to create and interact with virtual iOS devices, all within the browser. The frameworks of an iOS simulator is commonly used by security researchers for example to detect vulnerabilities in iPhones etc.

Apple had tried to purchase Corellium in January 2018, but talks between the two firms reportedly broke down by the summer of 2018.

Copyright lawsuit

Apple then launched a lawsuit against Corellium in August 2019, and in December 2019 it amended the lawsuit to include copyright infringement.

It claimed at the time that the firm was profiting from “perfect replicas” of iOS.

Corellium immediately hit back at Apple in an open letter, and warned that developers and jailbreakers should be “concerned” by Apple’s move.

In December 2020, a US court ruled in favour of Corellium, saying its software emulating the iOS operating system that runs on the iPhone and iPad amounted to “fair use” because it was “transformative” and helped developers find security flaws.

Judge Smith also said at the time Corellium “adds something new to iOS” by letting users see and halt running processes, take live snapshots, and conduct other operations.

But Apple was not backing down and according to Forbes, both Apple and Corellium had filed papers with the court, showing whom they would be calling as witnesses for the upcoming trial

The witnesses acccording to Forbes, included some Apple heavyweights, including Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, and security engineering chief Ivan Krstić.

Corellium’s witnesses meanwhile were former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos and an executive from Azimuth, the Australian company credited with the hack of the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone.

Lawsuit settlement

According to Forbes, late on Tuesday, a brief court update revealed a settlement had been reached.

“Negotiations held. The case settled. Confidential binding term sheet signed by both parties and counsel,” the court docket apparently states.

No other details were provided about the terms.

Neither Apple nor Corellium responded to requests for comment by Forbes.