Apple has filed a motion for partial summary judgment in its copyright infringement suit against Corellium. In turn, defendant software company Corellium filed its own motion for summary judgment. The motions were filed in the Southern District of Florida. Apple is represented by Latham & Watkins, as well as Lash & Goldberg. Corellium is represented by Cole, Scott & Kissane, as well as Hecht Partners.
Apple sued Corellium for copyright infringement in 2019. Apple claimed that Corellium’s “business is based entirely on commercializing the illegal replication of the copyrighted operating system and applications that run on Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices. The product Corellium offers is a ‘virtual’ version of Apple mobile hardware products, accessible to anyone with a web browser.” Apple alleged that Corellium and its products infringed Apple’s copyrighted materials.
Apple’s motion claimedd that Corellium utilizes its iOS operating system and that it is “an operational version of Apple’s copyrighted computer software hosted on servers that Corellium controls, owns, and sells.” Apple said Corellium has infringed Apple’s copyright and violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Apple added that Corellium has bypassed numerous Apple security measures in order to copyright its works; these security measures are designed to protect Apple’s work.
Corellium’s motion claims that it “does not infringe any of Apple’s copyrights.” Further, Corellium stated that “Apple’s copyrighted code is nowhere in the accused product. Corellium’s virtual hardware platform contains no copyrighted iOS code at all nor was any copyrighted iOS code used in its creation.” Corellium argued that even if it did use Apple’s code, they are engaging in fair use.
Corellium stated that it “offers a security research and testing platform that enables users to load and run mobile operating systems,” such as Android and iOS on virtual hardware. Corellium emphasized the research nature of its products, noting that users are interested what these operating systems and software do with data. Corellium argued that it does not violate the DMCA because there is nothing technical, such as code, that it has infringed. Additionally, Corellium claimed that through the lawsuit, Apple is trying to prevent security research into its products. They asserted that its right to research is protected in the First Amendment and constitutes fair use Corellium accused Apple of trying to “gain a monopoly on security research contrary to public policy.”
Corellium also purported that a consumer would not mistake its product for Apple’s iPhone or iPad nor view it as a substitute for these products. Corellium stated that its emulation was not copyright infringement and it was unique. The company also noted that copyright does not protect software function.
