I think spam is the appropriate metaphor for modern legalistic bullying. It's obvious that the cost of initiating a legal battle is rather small, vastly disprop

I think spam is the appropriate metaphor for modern legalistic bullying. It's obvious that the cost of initiating a legal battle is rather small, vastly disproportional to the cost of defending oneself against the hostilities. The asymmetry practically encourages such absurdities as seen here. And, it produces the same broadcast vs. conversation pattern. The problem is that finding a way to increase the cost of initiating legal kungfu would be from the start itself subject to a crippling ambush. I don't think bartl's suggestion would quite work, precisely because the ROI is so heavily tilted: lawyers will simply find some way of mitigating it.