The relationship between competition policy and the intellectual property (IP) system has at times been cast in terms of tension and even conflict. Both at the policy level and in actual practice, it can be tempting to assume that the two fields are inevitably divided by divergent or polarized sets of values and theoretical assumptions, by their distinct policy constituencies and private sector counterparts, and by incompatible conceptions of how commercial activity progresses public welfare – differences that can seem to be almost structural and incapable of coherent resolution. It is still not uncommon to hear references to the ‘antitrust community’ and the ‘intellectual property community’ as distinct, opposed groupings, seemingly fated to remain in agonistic counterpoint to one another. Even the common trope of ‘balance’ between the two fields is inherently zero-sum – by this logic, adding a certain degree of competition promotion on one side of the balance leads to a loss of IP protection on the other, and vice versa.