Apple Sues Corellium for Creating Virtual iOS Devices in the Cloud

Apple is suing Corellium, a software virtualization company that supports iOS. Corellium allows developers to test their apps on a virtual iPhone, for example, running iOS firmware, from within the browser.

According to MacRumors, the lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Florida accuses Corellium of copyright infringement of illegally replicating the operating system and applications that run on the iPhone and the iPad.

According to Apple, “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.”

Corellium makes it easy for developers to test their applications without configuring their devices for that purpose or even without the risk of “bricking” them. Virtualized devices can be “paused”, another attractive feature for developers to take a detailed look at its state at any given moment.

“Specifically, Corellium serves up what it touts as a perfect digital facsimile of a broad range of Apple’s market-leading devices–recreating with fastidious attention to detail, not just the way the operating system and applications appear visually to bona fide purchasers, but also the underlying computer code. Corellium does so with no license or permission from Apple,” says the iPhone maker.



According to the documents, Apple is asking for a permanent injunction to stop Corellium from offering a product that replicates iOS. Apple also wants Corellium to destroy all infringing materials that it has collected, and also pay Apple for the damages, lost profits, and of course, attorney fees.

“Once a user has created a “virtual” iPhone, the Corellium Apple Product allows a user to make multiple copies of that virtual device, and thus multiple copies of the version of iOS installed thereon. As a result, on information and belief, Corellium’s servers are hosting numerous copies of iOS,” the document goes on to argue.

This will definitely be a case to follow in the coming days. Do you think Apple has a solid case against Corellium?