GOVERNOR SHAKEN UP OVER BOBBLE-HEAD DOLLS.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Arnold Schwarzenegger is demanding a total recall of bobble-head dolls made in his image.

In a letter to the Bosley Bobbing Head Doll Company, an attorney for Schwarzenegger this week demanded an immediate halt to production of the $19.99 plastic doll. The letter was obtained Friday by The Smoking Gun Web site.

But the owner of the Canton, Ohio, bobble-head firm insisted Friday he has every right to make and sell images of politicians like California's governor.

Besides, he said, all the profits go toward cancer research - specifically, the type of cancer to which California first lady Maria Shriver's cousin lost his leg.

``We feel that it's completely legal. It's all part of being an elected official,'' Toby Bosley said of the mocking bobbles.

The Schwarzenegger doll appears as part of the company's Bobble Head Election series. In it, the governor is depicted in a suit, wielding a machine gun and adorned with a bandoleer across his chest.

Bosley said the election series, which also features Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, President George W. Bush and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, was created as a favor to a friend to raise money for the Kristen Ann Carr Fund for sarcoma research.

Ted Kennedy Jr. - the son of Shriver's uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy - lost his leg to sarcoma when he was 12 years old.

So far, about $10,000 worth of profits have gone to the New York-based foundation, Bosley said.

``We were just trying to do something good for sarcoma cancer. I think it's a shame,'' he said.

Entertainment law experts, however, said selling Schwarzenegger bobble heads is indeed a violation of California law whether or not charity is involved.

``Threatening to sue a little guy making a bobble-head doll for sarcoma cancer, this is not good PR for Arnold Schwarzenegger. But he is within his legal rights,'' said Frank Dehn, professor of media law at the S.I. Newhouse Communications Center at Syracuse University.

While public figures are helpless to prevent their images being used for editorial purposes - in a cartoon, for example - commercial products are a different story, Dehn said.

``If he made a 6-foot bobble head and put it in the town square, that would be OK.''

But, he added, ``It really doesn't matter if the profits go to charity, his sick grandmother or in his own pocket. It's a commercial use.''

``It's kind of like an honor for them.''

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

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Arnold bobble-heads are lined up in Ohio.

Associated Press