Steward Software Co. v. Kopcho, 266 P.3d 1085

Steward Software hired Kopcho to develop and market software; no written ownership agreement with Holonyx Kopcho or related entities.
Kopcho and Holonyx allegedly controlled and later barred Steward Software from the software code; Holonyx filed a copyright registration listing Ruffdogs Software, Inc. as author.
Steward Software sued Holonyx and Kopcho under Colorado law for civil theft, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty; ownership disputes were central to claims.
Defendants asserted they owned the software; the case proceeded to trial with proposed jury instructions on federal copyright law.
The trial court refused the federal instruction; Steward Software prevailed on civil theft at trial; the Court of Appeals reversed on civil theft grounds, prompting certiorari.
This Court held that federal copyright law does not govern ownership of the software code for a Colorado civil theft claim and affirmed the trial court’s refusal to instruct on federal copyright law.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether federal copyright law applies to the Colorado civil theft claim	Steward asserts ownership of the code; copyright ownership is implicated	Kopcho argues ownership of the code is governed by federal copyright law	No; federal copyright law does not govern the civil theft claim
Whether ownership of the software code is governed by federal copyright law	Ownership of the code is central to theft claim	Ownership of the code is a matter of property, not copyright ownership	Federal copyright law is irrelevant to ownership of the original embodiment of the code
Whether Steward asserted a claim for civil theft of a copyright in the software	Steward claimed theft of the software and its embodiment	No claim was proved that Kopcho stole a copyright in the software	Not at issue; the court properly instructed on applicable law as no copyright ownership dispute was pled

Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp., 714 F.2d 1240 (3d Cir. 1983) (software code as literary work; fixation and copyright ownership principles)
Sundeman v. Seajay Syst., Inc., 142 F.3d 194 (4th Cir. 1998) (distinction between ownership of a manuscript and copyright in the work)
Gaste v. Kaiserman, 863 F.2d 1061 (2d Cir. 1988) (evidence and presumption of copyright ownership; registration effects)
Itin v. Ungar, 17 P.3d 129 (Colo. 2000) (Colorado standard on theft and property ownership defenses)