The term ‘intellectual property’ (IP) is seen by many as reductive and misleading. For instance, Richard Stallman, a pioneer of the copyleft movement, has argued that it is wrong to ‘toss … into one pot’ laws governing copyright, patents and trade marks, as these ‘laws developed independently’ and ‘are different in every detail, as well as in their basic purposes and methods’.1 The different contexts in which IP operates can even lead to one country adopting a defensive, pro-access position with respect to one form of IP and an aggressive, pro-rights owner position with respect to another form of IP. However, the edited book Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights serves as a timely reminder that while IP is indeed a highly specialised field that warrants viewing different types of IP rights in isolation, sometimes it does make sense to analyse at least a few varieties of IP rights together.