From the Smoking Gun:
Bill Clinton threatens to sue over picture
This seems pretty heavy handed to me. Most celebrities would want to see their photos at cool NYC restaurants.
If this is an issue, shouldn’t the letter be coming from Chelsea, who is an adult? Did she not imply permission when she posed for a photo with the restaurant owner? What should the restaurant owner do? I would just ignore the threatening letter, or maybe display it in my window.
I agree that most celebrities would love the publicity but they did not get her permission and so they should not show off the photo.
I also agree that it is weird that Bill’s lawyer’s are sending them the letter instead of Chelsea. Maybe she doesn’t have her own lawyer and is using her dad’s but then I would think the letter would say “Counselor to Chelsea Clinton.”
As Chelsea Clinton is now an adult it seems that her daddy doesn’t have any right to protect her. Chelsea may (or may not) have a case for unlawful use of her image, but her daddy doesn’t have any claim whatsoever, IMHO.
It’s censorship!
First Amendment rights!
Or something, I don’t know. On the one hand, she’s a private citizen. If she wants the photo taken down, it should be taken down. On the other hand, I have no idea why she called Daddy in on this (if indeed she did). That puts her squarely in the public figure domain, it seems.
She’s a public figure, but she’s generally been given a lot of privacy. I suspect the Clintons sent this letter as a way to tell the press ‘you still have to leave her alone.’
I reckon that pic was taken before she started Chelsea Street Pub.
If the pic has been on public display for five years, why the outrage now?
I would really hate to get a threatening letter from a former president as the first indication that there is a problem. If Chelsea wanted the photo to be taken down, then how about a polite handwritten note from her making the request? Then if the restaurant owner made a stink about removing the photo, he would be acting like a jerk.
As it is the restaurant owner probably has the good fortune of trading a photo of a fading celebrity for a ton of new publicity.
Isn’t there a section of London named after her as well? Where’s the outrage over that, I ask?
Are the children of ex presidents public figures? For example, Tricia Nixon has a wikipedia article and her wedding made big news at the time and, as with Abraham Van Buren and Chester A. Arthur, Jr., you’ll find her in a variety of reference books, but she’d have to open fire on Guatemalan orphans or arrange her son’s marriage to Paris Hilton to get any press mention- would she still count as a public figure?
ETA that either way, if this is all there is to the story then Clinton’s being a dick.
My area of practice is not sending letter of outrage, but I’d appreciate it if any of the Dope barristers could explain to me this language in the letter:
Please confirm this understanding by written, return correspondence.
I’ve read it a couple of times, and I’m not sure who is supposed to understand exactly what, that the recipient of the letter is supposed to confirm.
Is understanding some sort of “term of art” of which I am unaware?
And is TSG (and our esteemed OPer) jumping to conclusions by suggesting that Clinton is threatening legal action? The letter simply says he reserves the right to exercise any and all options available to him. Perhaps he simply intends to fart in the restaurant’s general direction? 
I think it means that the restaurant owner will agree to take down the picture.
IANAL, but I don’t think Clinton has a legal leg to stand on. The picture wasn’t coerced, it isn’t being used as advertising, there is no “Chelsea Clinton loves my food!” statement being made. It’s just a picture of Chelsea and the owner. If I were the owner, I’d have my lawyer send a letter back telling Bill to stick it. Let him sue. See what **that ** does to Hillary’s public opinion numbers.
To me it’s simple: If I asked for my daughter’s picture to be removed and it was still there 10 seconds later, I would be steamed.
Yes, but you wouldn’t have a legal leg to stand on. Especially since she is/was a public figure and agreed to the photo. Be steamed all you want. I t won’t make a bit of difference.
She was an adult when the picture was taken, she was aware it was taken, and a willing participant in the shot. If she wants it taken down, she can damn well go over there herself and ask nicely, instead of having Daddy President send a ham fisted threatening letter.
Not to mention, this lawyer isn’t even her lawyer, and the letter is not on her letterhead. My response would be first to mention that neither Bill, nor his counsel are authorized to decide for Cheslea whether or not she objects to a picture being displayed. Second, I’d also mention that any future correspondence is going to take the place of the picture in my front window.
I have no idea Bill even knows about it. He didn’t sign it. Could it be that Chelsea wanted it taken down, so she used her dad’s lawyer to dash off a lawyer letter?
Plus, how do we know that Chelsea’s not going to be Red Lobster’s next spokesperson and wants to clear out any possible conflicts of interest?
Without more info, it’s hard to draw any serious conclusions…
Cool, I’ve never been esteemed on the Dope before. 
I don’t know about you, but if I get a letter from an expensive law firm indicating that if I don’t comply, they will (possibly) exercise all options available to them, I’m thinking - this is a legal threat. Not to mention the cost of defending myself if the next letter is a supeona or some such.
What cost? Do you have any idea how many Republican lawyers would do this case pro bono? 
How do you know (and why do you presume) that she didn’t?
How do you know that?
Why does it have to be? If my father was an attorney, and his office had a staff of attorneys, and I wanted to have an attorney write a letter on my behalf, I would certainly have my father’s office’s attorney draft the letter, and they wouldn’t do it on my personal stationery.
Shouldn’t the signature at the end of the letter say “Counselor to former President Clinton”?