I started this blog in 2009 to give the readers of Industrial Heating an overview of intellectual property. As I indicated in my initial post, the blog was intended to cover the material that could be found in a survey course for engineers and scientists.

The blog was structured in eight parts that addressed all four of the major forms of intellectual property: patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Included were topics relating to the acquisition of intellectual property (i.e., patent prosecution, trademark prosecution, copyright registration), litigation and licensing. The blog series was completed in November 2010.

Earlier this year, Industrial Heating introduced a new design to its website. The new design was accompanied by, among other things, an emphasis on intellectual property. The announcement of this updated design included a citation to my blog.

Last month, I decided to give some thought as to how my blog could be updated to address some of the important changes that have occurred in the field of intellectual property over the past five years. I decided to start with a discussion of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (commonly referred to as the “America Invents Act” or “AIA”), which will be covered in the next five blog posts.