Erin Kolter

Erin Kolter is an experienced patent litigator focusing on intellectual property disputes across various technological fields. Her practice encompasses patent and trademark litigation, as well as breach of contract actions involving intellectual property rights. Kolter handles patent issues related to complex technologies such as medical devices (including insulin pump technology, spinal implants, and biomaterials for artificial joint components), high-performance turbocharging, foam blowing agents, electronic devices incorporating wireless communications, surgical instrumentation, and RFID technology.

Based on tracked appearances, Kolter has represented defendants in patent litigation. Her broader experience, however, includes representing both plaintiffs and defendants in federal district courts across various venues, including California, Delaware, and Colorado. She is currently Of Counsel in the Intellectual Property Litigation Group at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, having joined the firm in Seattle in 2017. Before joining Dorsey & Whitney, she was a partner in the Intellectual Property Litigation group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Los Angeles, where she worked from 2008 until 2015.

Notable cases include her role as counsel for the defendant in Wacom Co., Ltd. v. Shenzhen Qianfenyi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. in the Eastern District of Texas, where a claim construction order was issued in February 2026. Her representative experience also highlights successfully defending a chemical and specialty materials company in a patent infringement action where a jury found the asserted patent invalid, a decision affirmed by the Federal Circuit. Additionally, she successfully represented a medical device inventor in a district court appeal of an interference proceeding, with the favorable decision affirmed by the Federal Circuit.

Kolter is also active in post-grant proceedings, handling matters before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). She has successfully represented clients in this forum, including a research hospital in a patent infringement action involving biomaterials for artificial joint components, where the PTAB denied inter partes review petitions and declined to institute review of the hospital's patents.

She earned her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Law in 2008, and holds a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan (2005). Kolter is admitted to practice in California and Washington.