Pornographer Larry Flynt and his brother Jimmy are embroiled in a legal battle against each other that threatens the future of the company that made them rich.

Jimmy received a letter last June, in which he was fired by his big brother Larry, of Hustler fame.

“It’s real personal,” Jimmy says. “When you’ve lived with someone and shared the good, the bad and the ugly over 40 years, it’s kind of like getting a divorce.”

“I’ve never been through an ordeal like this,” Larry says. “It’s always disappointing when it’s family.”

The fight began about three years ago when Larry fired Jimmy’s two sons, who then launched their own pornography business using the Flynt name. That set off a trademark infringement battle in which Larry argued his nephews were ruining his good name by selling low-quality sex movies under the Flynt banner.

Larry won that round, but the feud was far from over: Larry fired Jimmy. Jimmy sued Larry. And now both are fighting in Hamilton County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court over whether they ever had a legally binding partnership.

Larry, who is 67, and Jimmy, 61, both say they can think of better ways to spend their time and money.

After he was fired, Jimmy sued his brother to dissolve the partnership he said they have maintained since the first Hustler Club opened in the late 1960s in Cincinnati.

He says his contributions to the business continued through the decades, especially after Larry was shot in 1978 and again when Larry’s mental health faltered and his behavior became more erratic.

“Larry’s a lovely man, a great brother. But sometimes he has these demons he has to deal with,” Jimmy says.

Jimmy says it often fell to him to set things right.

He says he was the one who, in 1975, flew to Italy to obtain the nude photographs of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that made Hustler a best seller and saved the struggling company. And he says he’s the one who came up with the idea to sell sex toys and lingerie in Hustler retail stores, earning the company millions of dollars in the last decade.

Jimmy’s lawyer, Bob Hojnoski, says the Flynts have for years run their privately held companies like any other family business, resolving differences with handshakes and hugs and without a clear division of power. He says Jimmy is entitled to no less than half of the company.

“After all he’s done, Larry has tried to squeeze him out,” Hojnoski says. “To say he’s just an employee just defies all the years they’ve spent together.”

Larry says the two never had a partnership, and he scoffs at the notion that Jimmy kept the company afloat while he dealt with health problems. The company, which Larry has claimed is worth as much as $400 million, has succeeded because of his leadership. He grumbles when asked if the relationship with his brother can be repaired.

“No,” he says. “I think it’s gone beyond that now.”