Guy sells one anti-Wal-Mart T-shirt and makes $5.10. Wal-Mart issues cease-and-desist. Guy gets lots of publicity that he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Wal-Mart looks like a bully (again)…

Edelman: Talk to the lawyers in Bentonville, please.

From Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Christine Van Dusen:

When Charles Smith of Conyers, Ga. started marketing “I (heart) Wal-ocaust” T-shirts, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart predictably hit him with a cease-and-desist order, which in turn inspired Smith on Monday to file suit in federal district court in Atlanta. Wal-Mart says Smith is engaging in trademark infringement and has threatened to sue him for damages if he continues to display the logos on his Web site and print them…

This is the latest salvo in the increasingly noisy battle between Wal-Mart and its critics. Union groups fire off e-mails nearly every day. Filmmakers release dueling films. The company fights back by hiring bloggers for a public relations push. And so on…

Smith designed his first logo in July and sent it to CafePress, which runs an online marketplace and will print and sell customers’ T-shirt designs. One shirt, with “Wal-ocaust” printed above an eagle and a smiley face, sold on Nov. 16, netting Smith $5.10. In December Wal-Mart sent a letter to Smith, asserting ownership of its trademarks, and demanded he discontinue selling the products, according to the court filing. A similar letter was sent to CafePress, which pulled the shirts from its site.

Smith, however, continued to advertise them on his own Web site. And he retained an attorney from Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen Litigation Group. Smith agrees the “Walocaust” term is “in bad taste,” he said. “But I guess I gotta do something…. When it comes to freedom of speech, you can’t let this stuff go.”

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