Abbasi v. Bhalodwala

149 F. Supp. 3d 1372, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162028, 2015 WL 7863057
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 3, 2015
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 5:15-CV-115 (MTT)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 149 F. Supp. 3d 1372 (Abbasi v. Bhalodwala) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abbasi v. Bhalodwala, 149 F. Supp. 3d 1372, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162028, 2015 WL 7863057 (M.D. Ga. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

MARC T. TREADWELL, District . Judge

The Defendants have moved to dismiss the Plaintiffs amended complaint (Doc. 6), or alternatively, have moved for a more definite statement. (Doc. 4). For the reasons stated below, the motion is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND1

Plaintiff Mohammad Abbasi created a “lottery ticket tracking tool,” software called the Lottery Tracking System (“LTS”), for use in convenience stores, gas stations, and other locations where tickets are sold. (Doc. 6, ¶ 10). The Plaintiff owns the. LTS and registered .the software with the U.S. Copyright Office on August 10, 2010, (Doc. 6, ¶¶ 11-12). He has been marketing the software since February 2010 and licenses it to “numerous customers owning stores selling lottery tickets;” (Doc. 6, ¶ 13). These customers “must agree to the terms of the End-User Licensing Agreement (the ‘EULA’)” before they are allowed to install the software. (Doc. 6, ¶ 16). The EULA informs the customer the software is copyrighted and “contains an agreement that the customer will not ‘reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the software product.’ ” (Doc. 6, ¶ 17).

In December 2012, the Plaintiff licensed the LTS software to “Sunny Milledgeville,” the owner of a Stop N Save convenience store at 844 Montgomery St. in Milledge-ville. (Doc. 6, ¶18). Sunny received 138 minutes of phone service between December 5, 2012 and January 5, 2013 to explain the LTS software and system. (Doc. 6, ¶ 19). On December 21, 2012, the Plaintiff was notified of an improper login attempt into the Google email account he used for the LTS from an IP address in Milledge-ville. (Doc. 6, ¶20). The Plaintiff then learned that Defendant RealTime had begun selling an application, “substantively identical” to the LTS, which also tracked lottery ticket sales. (Doc. 6, ¶ 21). Defendant “RealTime’s web page show[s] images that have been copied directly from Plaintiffs copyrighted software.” (Doc. 6, ¶ 21). Defendant Bhalodwala owns Defendant RealTime, and the contact information on RealTime’s website is the address of the Stop N Save store in Milledgeville and Sunny Milledgeville’s email address and phone number. (Doc. 6, ¶¶ 22-23). This is also the phone number through which the Plaintiff provided telephone service for his software. (Doc. 6, ¶23). In other words, Sunny Milledgeville is Defendant Bhalod-wala or an agent acting on his behalf. (Doc. ■ 6, ¶ 24). •

The Defendants call their “substantively identical” software application the “Lottery Tracking App” or “Lottery Tracking System” in their written materials and in communications with potential customers, who are also potential customers of the Plaintiffs software. (Doc. 6, if 27). The Plaintiff alleges he “has received calls from his customers who have been approached by Defendants and to whom Defendants have held their product out as the [LTS].” (Doc. 6, ¶ 28).

Given the_ Defendants’ alleged conduct, the Plaintiff has asserted a copyright infringement claim, an unfair competition claim pursuant to the Lanham Act, and various state law claims, including violations of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act, fraud, tortious interference with business relations, unjust enrichment, [1376]*1376breach of contract, and litigation expenses.2

II. DISCUSSION

A. Motion to Dismiss Standard

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require a pleading to contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). To avoid dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter 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 Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “At the motion to dismiss stage, all'well-pleaded facts are accepted as true, and the reasonable inferences therefrom are construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Garfield v. NDC Health Corp., 466 F.3d 1255, 1261 (11th Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). However, “where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged— but it has not ‘show[n]’ — ‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2)). “[C]onclusory allegations, unwarranted deductions of facts or legal conclusions masquerading as facts will not prevent dismissal.” Oxford Asset Mgmt., Ltd. v. Jaharis, 297 F.3d 1182, 1188 (11th Cir.2002). The complaint must “give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Where there are dispositive issues of law, a court may dismiss a claim regardless of the alleged facts. Marshall Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. Marshall Cty. Gas Dist., 992 F.2d 1171, 1174 (11th Cir.1993).

B. Analysis

The Defendants first argue the complaint should be dismissed as a “shotgun” pleading because (1) it includes an “Allegations Common to .all Claims for Relief’ section instead of identifying which facts are applicable to which claims, (2) each count incorporates allegations, and (3) the counts do not establish which counts apply to Defendant Bhalodwala and which apply to Defendant Realtime Networking, LLC. (Doc. 4 at 5-6). The Eleventh Circuit has described a shotgun pleading as one where “it is virtually impossible to know which allegations of fact are intended to support which elaim(s) for relief.” Anderson v. Dist. Bd. of Trs. of Cent. Fla. Cmty. Coll., 77 F.3d 364, 366 (11th Cir.1996). As discussed more fully below, all of the Plaintiffs counts are based on a common factual scenario, and each Defendant is purportedly liable under each count. Therefore, it is possible to determine which allegations of fact are intended to support which claims for relief, and dismissal on this ground is not warranted.

1. Copyright Infringement

To establish direct copyright‘infringement, a plaintiff must prove two elements: “(1) ownership of a valid copyright, and (2) copying of constituent elements of the work that are original.”3 Feist Publ’ns, [1377]*1377Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 361, 111 S.Ct. 1282, 113 L.Ed.2d 358 (1991).

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149 F. Supp. 3d 1372, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162028, 2015 WL 7863057, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abbasi-v-bhalodwala-gamd-2015.