The purpose of these guidelines is to articulate the principles governing the Competition Bureau's policy with respect to the interface between intellectual property (IP) rights and competition law. The goal is to alleviate uncertainty that the business community may face concerning this interface and to promote transparency in the enforcement of the Competition Act. The document discusses the following topics: the general purpose of IP laws; the general purpose of competition law, and the basic analytic approach used in its application; the Bureau's enforcement principle underlying the application of the criminal and civil provisions of the Competition Act to business arrangements involving IP; the application of Section 32, the special remedy provision; the Bureau's mandate to promote competition. It also includes a series of hypothetical situations illustrating how the Competition Act will be applied to conduct involving IP.