Zaccari v. Apprio, Inc.

390 F. Supp. 3d 103
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJune 4, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 18-1560 (JDB)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 390 F. Supp. 3d 103 (Zaccari v. Apprio, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zaccari v. Apprio, Inc., 390 F. Supp. 3d 103 (D.C. Cir. 2019).

Opinion

Approximately one month later, Zaccari demonstrated CRR to other senior employees at DCMA, including IWMS Program Lead Antoine McNeil. Id. ¶ 17. McNeil subsequently contacted Apprio executives and "demanded" a copy of the application. Id. ¶ 18. In response, "Apprio's leadership directed Zaccari to give the source code for" CRR to McNeil, and to provide a copy of the application to the BPR 1 team. Id.

The BPR 1 team then "removed Zaccari's name as [the] author [of] CRR" and renamed the program "ConCISE." Id. ¶ 19. Next, McNeil worked with Discover Technologies LLC ("DT"), another government contractor, to create a "derivative" application using CRR's source code. Id. ¶ 20. DCMA later shared copies of CRR with various other DoD agencies and, in 2017, implemented a version of ConCISE that was similar to CRR. Id. ¶¶ 23, 33. DCMA employees predicted that ConCISE would save the agency millions of dollars. Id. ¶¶ 21, 26, 34.

Although Zaccari advised supervisors at Apprio that he owned CRR and repeatedly asked Apprio to "confront DCMA" about the use of CRR without his authorization or consent, his requests were ignored. Id. ¶¶ 24, 30. On April 23, 2018, Zaccari filed an application to register CRR with the U.S. Copyright Office, which was subsequently accepted. Id. ¶ 4.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In June 2018, Zaccari filed this lawsuit.3 A few months later, Apprio filed its own suit against Zaccari arising out of the same facts. See Apprio, Inc. v. Zaccari, Civ. No. 18-2180 (filed Sept. 21, 2018). The Court consolidated the cases and stayed briefing and discovery on Apprio's claims pending further order of the Court. See Jan. 11, 2019 Order [ECF No. 15].

Zaccari brings four claims against Apprio. Count I alleges that Apprio breached the assignment of inventions Agreement the parties entered in 2015. Compl. ¶¶ 36-42. Count II alleges copyright infringement under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et. seq. Id. ¶¶ 43-51. Count III alleges civil conspiracy. Id. ¶¶ 52-55. Count IV alleges misappropriation of trade secrets under the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 ("DTSA"), 18 U.S.C. § 1831 et seq. Id. ¶¶ 56-62. Zaccari seeks, among other things, $63,000,000 in actual damages and injunctive relief ordering Apprio not to infringe his rights in CRR. Id. at 14-15.

Apprio has moved to dismiss the complaint and Zaccari has opposed. See Apprio, Inc.'s Mot. to Dismiss the Compl. Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) & 12(b)(6) ("Def.'s Mot.") [ECF No. 11]; Pl.'s Mem. in Opp'n to Def.'s Mot. ("Pl.'s Opp'n") [ECF No. 12]. The motion is fully briefed and ripe for resolution.

LEGALSTANDARD

"To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' " Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting *108Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ). A plaintiff must plead "factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. A complaint that "pleads facts that are merely consistent with a defendant's liability" falls short of showing plausible entitlement to relief. Atherton v. D.C. Office of the Mayor, 567 F.3d 672, 681 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 ). The Court must take all allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. See Aktieselskabet AF 21. Nov. 2001 v. Fame Jeans, Inc., 525 F.3d 8, 15 (D.C. Cir. 2008). However, "labels and conclusions," "a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action," or "naked assertion[s] devoid of further factual enhancement" do not satisfy the pleading standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The Court need not accept legal conclusions or inferences drawn by the plaintiff which are unsupported by facts alleged in the complaint. Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. Vilsack, 808 F.3d 905

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
390 F. Supp. 3d 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zaccari-v-apprio-inc-cadc-2019.