Apprio Rights to Programmer’s Software Affirmed by D.C. Cir.

A programmer broke a valid contract that assigned the copyright on his updated regulatory compliance software to his employer Apprio Inc., the DC Circuit affirmed Friday.

Neil Zaccari entered a binding contract that assigned his own software to his employer while he worked at Apprio, including updates to software he’d created before working there, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said. Zaccari broke the pact by registering the updated version of his software with the Copyright Office in 2016 without assigning it to Apprio, the court said.

The opinion largely turned on whether Zaccari knowingly entered ...