If you send a letter to someone threatening them with legal action, they will often initiate legal action to have the court decide if your legal action would su

If you send a letter to someone threatening them with legal action, they will often initiate legal action to have the court decide if your legal action would succeed. I don't know what the Beastie Boys said to GoldieBlox, but the EFF article mentions that GoldieBlox was worried that the Beastie Boys would initiate litigation right at the holiday season, leaving them without a commercial. GoldieBlox decided to ask a court to decide earlier. There's nothing wrong with this. It does point out an interesting lesson, though: never explicitly threaten someone with legal action, they might very well take the opportunity to pre-emptively sue, and if you were just posturing you'll now be spending a lot of money on lawyers. (This is why letters that are pretty much threatening to sue will instead say something like "We trust you will stop injuring us. If you do not, we reserve all rights.")