This company provides “perfect replicas” of iOS, and Apple is suing them

Apple’s devices are notoriously expensive, and unlike rival Android’s operating system, isn’t open source. In fact, the cheapest access to the iOS ecosystem in the current generation of Apple’s devices is the iPod Touch at RM899—and that’s not even a smartphone.

Enter Corellium, a company that sells “perfect replicas” of iOS, where users can summon up a virtual copy of iOS on their computers; this is limited to computers, however. The virtual operating systems do not work on mobile devices.

And as expected, Apple is reportedly suing the startup for copyright infringement—despite Corellium’s claims that their product is being sold as “a research tool for those trying to discover security vulnerabilities and other flaws in Apple’s software”.

But despite that, Apple argues that the commercialisation of their intellectual property is against copyright laws:

“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,”

Part of the problem is the material gain that Corellium is making from the virtual copies, with Apple saying that “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.”

This tallies with an earlier report by Forbes that claimed that vulnerabilities found in iOS was sold off to the highest bidder, thereby creating “An Apple Hacker’s Paradise”.

As of now, we’ll have to see what comes of Apple’s lawsuit. Corellium, on their part, recently updated their IP policy last month, which states that they “respect the Intellectual Property rights of others”—they have around 21 days to respond to the court summons.

[ VIA ]