Software company Corellium scored a key victory in a legal spat with Apple, after a court determined its development of a virtualised replica of the tech giant’s iOS platform did not violate copyright law.

A US district judge threw out Apple’s claim of copyright infringement, finding Corellium’s software fell within fair use guidelines because the company incorporated its own code to offer security researchers and other customers “capabilities not available on Apple’s iOS devices”.

However, the judge deferred a ruling on Apple’s allegation Corellium violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which prohibits the sale of tools which can be used to sidestep technological measures copyright holders use to protect their assets.

“Corellium may make fair use of iOS, but it is not absolved of potential liability for allegedly employing circumvention tools to unlawfully access iOS or elements of iOS.”

Apple filed its lawsuit against Corellium alleging copyright infringement in August 2019, adding its accusation of DMCA violations in January 2020.