NSO's attempt to halt Apple pegasus lawsuit fails in US court
NSO's attempt to halt Apple pegasus lawsuit fails in US court
Apple's legal battle against NSO progresses as court denies dismissal motion
A federal court in the United States has rejected NSO, the developer of the Pegasus spyware, in its bid to outright dismiss the lawsuit filed by Apple. The court dismissed NSO's argument that the case should be conducted in Israel, asserting that NSO will now need to respond substantively to the claims brought by Apple.
Apple initiated the lawsuit in November 2021 after revelations that NSO exploited zero-click vulnerabilities in the iPhone's operating system to inject Pegasus into smartphones, targeting journalists, human rights activists, academics, and government officials. NSO contended that, as an Israeli company, the lawsuit should be filed in Israel and insisted that Apple should have included NSO's customers as defendants.
The Northern California District judge countered NSO's claim, stating that the burden of conducting the lawsuit in California would be comparable to the burden on Apple if the case were pursued in Israel. He emphasized the availability of digital evidence and recorded video depositions as factors mitigating these challenges.
NSO also sought to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing that Apple failed to include NSO's customers as defendants. “NSO puts far too much weight on a cursory and boilerplate prayer for relief in the complaint,” the judge wrote. “It is not at all clear from the prayer that Apple is seeking anything other than relief against NSO for its own conduct and actions with respect to Apple’s servers and users’ devices. It is certainly not the case that the prayer necessarily demands the presence of NSO’s customers.”
"The motion to dismiss is part of the legal process in this case," said an NSO spokesperson. "The technology in question is critical to law enforcement and intelligence agencies in their efforts to maintain public safety. We are confident that once the arguments are presented, the Court will rule in our favor."
In its complaint, Apple said NSO's tools were used in "concerted efforts in 2021 to target and attack Apple customers" and that "U.S. citizens have been surveilled by NSO’s spyware on mobile devices that can and do cross international borders."
Apple alleged that NSO group created more than 100 fake Apple ID user credentials to carry out its attacks. Apple said that its servers were not hacked, but that NSO misused and manipulated the servers to deliver the attacks on Apple users.
Apple also alleged that NSO Group was directly involved in providing consulting services for the attacks, which is noteworthy because NSO has maintained that it sells its tools to clients.
