The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) is a 16,000-member, national bar association constituted primarily of lawyers in private and corporate practice, in government service, and in the academic community. The AIPLA represents a wide and diverse spectrum of individuals, companies and institutions involved directly or indirectly in the practice of patent, trademark, copyright and unfair competition law, as well as other fields of law affecting intellectual property. Members represent both owners and users of intellectual property.

AIPLA was formed in 1897 in order to maintain a high standard of professional ethics, to aid in the improvements in laws relating to intellectual property and in their proper interpretation by the courts, and to provide legal education to the public and to its members on intellectual property issues.

To qualify for membership, applicants must be members in good standing of the bar of a court of record of the United States or any state. Foreign affiliate members must be able to practice in a court of general jurisdiction in their countries to be considered for membership, or be registered to practice with the Patent and/or Trademark Office of their country of citizenship. AIPLA also has student memberships available for those regularly enrolled in a law school approved by the Association of American Law Schools. Approximately 70% of the active members are in private practice, 30% in corporate practice, with the remainder in the government or academia.

AIPLA holds three regularly scheduled conferences a year, Mid-Winter, Spring and Fall, at which the association offers educational seminars on the latest developments in intellectual property law. In addition, AIPLA holds many stand-alone seminars on specialized areas of intellectual property law at varying times of the year in locations around the United States. The association also produces a number of informative publications including the AIPLA Quarterly Journal (a scholarly law journal published four times a year), the AIPLA Bulletin (an overview of AIPLA meetings published online three times a year), and CD-ROMs and tapes which include papers or speeches presented by speakers at the meetings. The AIPLA also publishes the Report of the Economic Survey biennially.

Furthermore, the AIPLA is actively involved in shaping U.S. intellectual property policy through its work on legislation and federal regulations affecting intellectual property cases in the U.S. courts. Internationally, the AIPLA has spearheaded a worldwide campaign to reduce the costs of procurement and enforcement of patents, regularly participates in meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and maintains close relations with foreign IP officials and practitioners.