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HOT That’s why it pays to approach every dispute with due respect, says Dewdney Drew
T
he distinction between contentious and noncontentious practice is well known. We are also all aware of the difference – in intensity, shall we say – between disputes before the UK IPO and those before the courts. Perhaps underappreciated, though, are the different intensities at the IPO level, which depend on a variety of non-obvious factors. 16 | TACTICS
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As the rules of conflict are somewhat universal and tend to map from one arena to another, a reference to the world of combat sports may help here. Many people will not see much difference between, for example, “professional wrestling” and mixed martial arts. The term “fight” might be used loosely to describe what goes on in either of these realms. They are, however, quite different.
To extend the metaphor, consider catch wrestling. This sport, popular in the 19th century, tended to offer matches that were either very boring or brutally eventful. Given that entertaining the audience was the ultimate goal, the sport’s organisers came to the view that something closer to a “display” was what was needed – and “kayfabe” was born. Essentially play fighting with a more or less pre-agreed outcome, the sport July/August 2021 citma.org.uk
