Girls Gone Wild Director Tells Madonna Cease and Desist

Madonna, by legal order, shall not go wild!

TMZ claims to have obtained a letter of the cease-and-desist kind from one Joe Francis--the infamous skeeze at the foundation of the Girls Gone Wild video series--telling her she must reconcile costs of trademark for the use of his Girls Gone Wild copyright. There's a song of the same name on Madonna's upcoming album, MDNA, and Francis is threatening some serious legal action if Madonna so much as thinks about performing this piece at the Super Bowl!

The language in the letter is rather strong, for example: Your misappropriation of my clients' trademark will not be tolerated.

It seems Francis has had about enough of his bad legal luck and is trying to turn the tables on a potentially profitable foil. Here are a couple other instances in which Francis was met with legal problems.

• The Los Angeles Times reported Franics was convicted of $500,000 of federal tax fraud in 2009.
• The Panama City New Herald reported Francis had filmed on tape a young woman saying she was 16 years old before flashing her breasts on camera.
• The New York Daily News reported Francis attempted to bribe a prison guard while serving time.
• People reported that Ashley Alexandra Dupre--otherwise known as Eliot Spitzer's lady of the evening--sued Francis for using her image without consent (charges were later dropped).