Los Angeles, CA, March 28, 2016 -- US Department of Justice attorneys filed a status report called for by a US District Court order of March 21, 2016 in the matter of matter of an Apple iPhone seized during the execution of a search warrant of a black Lexus IS 300, California License plate #5KGD203.

The motion stated "The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook's iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple, Inc. mandated by Court's Order Compelling Apple Inc. to Assist Agents in Search dated February 16, 2016."

On March 21, 2016, the government said an outside party had demonstrated a way for the F.B.I. to possibly unlock the phone used by the San Bernardino gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook.

Apple issued the following statement:

"From the beginning, we objected to the FBI's demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government's dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought.

We will continue to help law enforcement with their investigations, as we have done all along, and we will continue to increase the security of our products as the threats and attacks on our data become more frequent and more sophisticated.

Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy. Sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk.

This case raised issues which deserve a national conversation about our civil liberties, and our collective security and privacy. Apple remains committed to participating in that discussion."