Furniture store that crossed Clint Eastwood is unforgiven

On film, he likes to settle scores with a menacing sneer, a .44 magnum, and such time-honoured catchphrases as "Do you feel lucky, punk?" and "Go ahead, make my day!" In real life, Clint Eastwood prefers to go after his adversaries with a highly paid team of aggressive show-business lawyers.

The latest alleged "punks" to learn this are the hapless proprietors of an online furniture store, who stand accused of illegally naming one of their product ranges after the Oscar-winning actor and director.

A complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last week accuses Evofurniture, a design company, and immod.com, a contemporary furniture store, of unlawfully naming a range of chairs, ottomans and entertainment centres after Eastwood.

In the lawsuit, uncovered by The Hollywood Reporter, the actor's ominously named law firm, Wolf Rifkin Shapiro Schulman & Rabkin, accuse the company of hijacking Eastwood's "name, identity and persona for the purpose of attracting attention to the infringing products".

They appear to be particularly upset over the sales patter used to attract customers to the products, which borrows liberally from his back catalogue of famous movies.

"When you're invited into a person's home, you get to see the good, the bad and the ugly," reads one pitch. "When visitors come to your home, the Clint 47ins Entertainment Center makes your family room look like you live in a perfect world of a million dollar baby," says another.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Last night, the offending items appeared to have been removed from sale, though the defendants had yet to comment.