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A Portland-based contractor is appealing a judge’s decision to throw out a copyright infringement claim against Hoffman Construction and Intel.

Harder Mechanical Contractors‘ attorney Lisa Lear of The Rosen Law Firm confirmed the company is pursuing an appeal, but the company’s in-house counsel declined to comment.

The case concerns the use of proprietary/confidential information in construction. Often they include technology or pricing that a subcontractor doesn’t want made public.

鈥淚t isn’t something that often gets discussed,鈥� said attorney Jeremy Vermilyea, who is not involved with the case.

The issue typically arises, Vermilyea said, from government contracts awarded for projects with a technical component, like a tolling system for a bridge or a security system, etc., and unsuccessful bidders seek disclosure of the winning bid.

Contractors do this partly to try to get access to the technology or the pricing structure or other parts of the proposal, Vermilyea said. They can try because the presumption is that government records are open to the public unless they fall into exception to disclosure. That sets up a battle between the successful and unsuccessful bidders.

It isn’t often seen for private contracts because the information isn’t presumptively a public record, Vermilyea said. However, in the Hoffman/Intel situation, there is a dispute going on, which means documents are being sought and exchanged through discovery.

Intel was represented in court by Stoel Rives attorney Jeffrey Courser and Hoffman, by Dan Gragg of Seifer, Yeats, Zwierzynski & Gragg.