Experience
Chad Colton specializes in commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, and professional liability defense. He represents clients in state and federal court in contract and business tort disputes, copyright infringement claims, and internet disputes, including e-commerce and anti-SLAPP litigation.
Chad has tried numerous cases to verdict and is experienced in all aspects of motion practice and discovery. Recently, he tried a case in federal bankruptcy court to recover company funds that his client's high-level employee had secretly taken for himself. After hearing four days of evidence, the judge entered a judgment against the employee, refused to discharge the employee's debt through bankruptcy, and denied the employee's counterclaims in their entirety. In addition to his civil trial work, Chad tried criminal misdemeanor cases as a certified legal student with the Multnomah County District Attorney's office.
Representative matters include:
- Representation of an internet retail company in claims against a software manufacturer for its sale of computer software alleged to have infringed on a third party's patent.
- Defense of a client in a jury trial involving claims for elder financial abuse.
- Representation of an international paper-product company in claims for breach of contract and other business torts.
- Representation of a major music licensing company in claims to enforce performance rights.
- Representation of a global technology company in business tort claims arising out of the theft of the company's ATMs.
- Representation of an internet sales company in anti-SLAPP litigation
- Defense of a national hardware chain in a trademark and copyright dispute relating to its electronic catalog.