Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger, left, and in the movie Firewalker, from 1986. At right, Norris last month.

>

Cannon Films

Hollywood tough guy Chuck Norris will be returning to federal court in New York next week, hoping to again persuade a judge to restrain some hyperbolic jokes about him that he no longer considers a laughing matter.

What began nearly three years ago as an Internet phenomenon has become a book, and now a lawsuit filed by Norris. Norris, a former karate champion, is best known for his role in the TV show Walker, Texas Ranger and the movie The Delta Force. On the receiving end of the suit is Ian Spector, a junior at Brown University, who created what would turn out to be a very popular Web site collecting visitor-supplied “facts” about how macho Norris is. An example: “Once a cobra bit Chuck Norris’ leg. After five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.”

This is among the comic claims contained in the recently published book The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World’s Greatest Human. The book was based on jokes posted to Spector’s Web site. It was published by Gotham Books, a division of Penguin, which is also being sued.

Norris asserts through his lawyers thatthe “facts” in the book aren’t true and many harm his reputation.

Spector and Penguin have “misappropriated and exploited Mr. Norris’ name and likeness without authorization for their own commercial profit,” according to the lawsuit Norris filed Dec. 21 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The dispute has it roots in a Web site Spector created a few years ago called www.4Q.cc.

As Spector explains on the site, its focus was initially on actor Vin Diesel, following the release of his movie The Pacifier, which came out in March 2005. Picking up on an online discussion board where people posted amusing “facts” about Vin Diesel, Spector created a Web site devoted to such postings. And by May 1, 2005, he reports, the site received 10 million hits. (Now it reports 200 million hits.)

The big jump in popularity could be attributed to Norris.

That summer, Spector put a poll on his site asking visitors to choose — from among a dozen celebrity candidates — who should be the next subject of a “facts” Web site. To his surprise, Spector writes on his Web site, “more users wrote in Chuck Norris than voted for any other option.”

So Spector listened to the masses. He made Norris the subject of “facts” submitted by visitors, who sent in more than 10,000 entries. And initially Norris didn’t mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy them.

Two years ago, Norris went on the Best Damn Sports Show Period on the Fox network to promote his World Combat League, which involves mixed-martial arts fighting. On the show, Norris read what Web visitors at the time deemed the top-10 “facts.”

“I read them and I thought, ‘these are really funny,’ ” Norris told the San Antonio Express-News last month. “And I said, ‘this will last only a couple of weeks and then it will blow over.’ All of a sudden, the college crowd caught on to it and it became a big thing.”

During the winter of 2005-06, Spector reports his Web site received 18 million hits a month. During that time, Spector reports in his book that Norris, through his wife, Gena, asked to meet him. The meeting happened at Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn. “Given the nature of some of the facts, I was pretty scared about his reaction, but he played it cool, which is further testament to his being either a really nice guy or a good actor,” Spector writes in the preface of his book.

On TV and in newspaper articles, Norris said his favorite Chuck Norris “fact” was: “They wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn’t tough enough for his beard.”

That spring, Spector reports, Penguin approached him with a proposal to compile some of his site’s Chuck Norris “facts” into a book.

That, Norris’ lawyers say in their court filing, is when Norris had a problem with what was being written about him.

“In general, Mr. Norris has not objected to the non-commercial use of his name in connection with ‘facts’ so long as the ‘facts’ are not racist or lewd, and are not likely to tarnish or otherwise harm Mr. Norris’ reputation and interests.”

Last November, the Norris “fact” book was published, and the legal battle began.

“Kids look up to me,” Norris told the San Antonio Express-News. “Kids are buying that stupid book, and I’ve already gotten some complaints because that book kind of insinuates that I’ve endorsed it. I didn’t endorse that book. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve got to nip it in the bud, and now I’ve got to file a lawsuit against someone.”

In December, Norris’ lawyers at the law firm of Patton Boggs in New York and Washington sought a temporary restraining order in federal court as an emergency remedy to stop Penguin from publishing and selling the book. The motion was denied by Judge Robert W. Sweet.

Next week, Norris’ lawyers are scheduled to petition the court for a preliminary injunction.

“Norris will fare no better then in his effort to suppress what is obviously humorous commentary on the iconic status that Norris enjoys,” Penguin’s lawyers said in a prepared statement.

In Penguin’s prepared statement, it said the first printing of the book produced 22,400 copies. Since then, there have been four more printings with a total of 70,000 copies made.

In his lawsuit, Norris seeks a permanent injunction against the book’s publication, and monetary compensation: three times the book’s profits plus lawyers’ fees and costs. Norris’ lawyers say in their court filing that “Spector received a significant monetary advance” for the book and under his contract receives a royalty from sales.

Spector declined to comment for this article. However, last month in an article published in The New York Times he said that Norris “takes himself very seriously. Maybe because he takes himself so seriously, it makes it all the more ridiculous.”