Update: An amended complaint has been filed in the case.
Less than a week after an initial lawsuit was filed against a Tampa startup for alleged patent infringement, the original complaint was dismissed due to a "shotgun pleading."
A "shotgun pleading," according to the court's order to dismiss the original complaint, is typically when a company fails to articulate the grounds for each charge.
On Feb. 1, two Texas entities filed a complaint against Tampa-based iApartments for alleged patent infringement, false or misleading advertising and creating unfair competition.
"Shotgun pleadings require the district court to sift through allegations in an attempt to separate the meritorious claims from the unmeritorious," the order states, "resulting in a 'massive waste of judicial and private resources.'"
Texas-based EDST and Quext filed the complaint. Quext was formed in 2017 and is a subsidiary of EDST, and manufactures smart home products.
An amended complaint was filed Feb. 7, according to court documents.
"The complaint is still on file and the case is not dismissed," a Quext spokesperson said in an email to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "We will continue to pursue this case and protect the intellectual property rights currently at stake.”
iApartments was formed in 2019 and made itself publicly known in July 2021. It offers software and hardware services to help apartment residents on the front end and apartment complex owners on the back end. Users can access smart locks, smart thermostats and other modern amenities typically only seen in freestanding homes.
