[ghshephard]

This is all about PR. The lawyer/client in this case are betting that Tesla will pay off their ransom/legal fees/damages rather than have their good name dragged through the court. They believe that most companies are run by people who are afraid of the "legal ramifications" of responding in public, and therefore aren't prepared to defend their name.

Tesla winning in court, but losing the PR battle is a 100% loss to Tesla - a court verdict is worthless if a bunch of unanswered stories have been written in the meantime.

This is why these lawyers can bottom feed like this - they know that they have all the power, and typically, companies will just pay them to go away and bother somebody else.