August 27, 2004 8:57 AM

A few months ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger freaked out about his bobblehead doll, brought his lawyers in, and sued claiming they weren't allowed to make make money off his likeness even though he was now a public figure and his image was in the public domain. It turned into a big of a PR nightmare when the Smoking Gun posted the threatening letter from Arnold's lawyers seeking "substantial damages" for "unauthorized commercial exploitation." Well, Schwarzenegger effectively won by settling with the company a few weeks ago, no more Arnold in a suit with a machine gun.

But now Brian Flemming posted the letter from Schwarzenegger's legal counsel, Martin Singer, outlining their strategy. They had "almost zero" chance of winning and felt that it "may expose him to far more ridicule and negative publicity than the bobbleheads ever would." They felt that the case would be perceived as simply a means to appease Arnold in a similar way the Fox News lawsuit against Al Franken was dismissed as merely a means to "mollify the vanity of Bill O'Reilly," noting the case was "literally laughed out of court." (UPDATE: This email was all a hoax. Wow -- these hoaxes are getting crazy.)

Behold the power of the internet to really fuck up a lawyer's day. (UPDATE: and a blogger's day too.)

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