How many of you are aware of Corellium? It is a novel startup that offers a virtual iPhone to hackers and has been operating for about a year now. Apple has recently sued Corellium and claimed that the company has been selling ‘perfect replicas’ of Apple’s operating systems illegally.
Apple claims that the whole operating has been going on under the guise of assisting in spotting vulnerabilities. The complaint says, ‘Although Corellium paints itself as providing a research tool for those trying to discover security vulnerabilities and other flaws in Apple’s software, Corellium’s true goal is profiting off its blatant infringement. Far from assisting in fixing vulnerabilities, Corellium encourages its users to sell any discovered information on the open market to the highest bidder.’
It is clear that Apple is suing to completely take out the virtual iPhone that is being offered by Corellium. How does Corellium work? For a certain price, you can have a virtual iPhone installed on your computer. It will not be possible to make use of the Corellium’s system as an actual iPhone, but it does copy iOS directly. Apple’s primary concern with Corellium is what the startup was being used for; the software was being utilized by researchers as a tool to seek vulnerabilities in the iOS.
Once such vulnerabilities had been found, they would be sold to the third-party exploit traders instead of being reported to Apple. The complaint also said, ‘The purpose of this lawsuit is not to encumber good-faith security research, but to bring an end to Corellium’s unlawful commercialization of Apple’s valuable copyrighted works.’
We are still waiting for a response from Corellium to the complaint filed against it. The firm did make a post on 4th July, in relation to its intellectual property policy, saying that it ‘respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same.’ On the other hand, Apple is taking an aggressive approach and says, ‘For a million dollars a year, Corellium will even deliver a ‘private’ installation of its product to any buyer.’
Apple is requesting that the sales of the Corellium Apple Products be ceased and that the customer should be notified that they are in violation of Apple’s rights. Apple said, ‘There is no basis for Corellium to be selling a product that allows the creation of avowedly perfect replicas of Apple’s devices to anyone willing to pay.’
