Awesome Tattoos

Well this comes as no surprise. Actually, yes it does. you would have thought someone would have gotten the rights to use the tattoo shown on Ed Helm’s face throughout the duration of The Hangover Part II. S. Victor Whitmill, the award winning tattoo artist that designed the famous Mike Tyson tattoo, is asking for an injunction on the film to try and keep it from being released next month.

The artist has a good argument, seeing as he owns the rights to the tattoo and decides if it can or can’t be used for commercial use. Well it looks like someone at Warner Brothers didn’t do their homework and failed to acquire the rights to use that tattoo as it appears on Helm’s face. Hit the jump to read the most important information in a document THR received.

When mr. Whitmill created the Original Tattoo, mr Tyson agreed that mr. Whitmill would own the artwork and thus, the copyright in the Original Tattoo,” argues the complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Missouri and obtained by THR. “Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. — without attempting to contact mr. Whitmill, obtain his permission, or credit his creation — has copied mr. Whitmill’s Original Tattoo and placed it on the face of another actor … This unauthorized exploitation of the Original Tattoo constitutes copyright infringement.

Whitmill certainly has a case here. his work is copyrighted and the designs in the movie are very similar to Tyson’s tattoo. THR says Warner Bros. will probably fight the case using several different options. They could say the design was changed just enough to escape infringement, or claim the tattoo is being used as a parody, which would allow the studio fair use.

The film is set for a May 26th release date, so the studio needs to get this case settled as fast as possible. we may see the trailers for The Hangover Part II pulled from television while this lawsuit is pending, but I doubt it. I understand where Whitman is coming from, no one likes to have their works “stolen,” but I feel this guy is just money hungry. I hope he doesn’t get a dime.

Todd Philips is directing the sequel and stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike Tyson, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong and Liam Neeson. We’ll see how the boys manage in Bangkok for the sequel, which is set to hit theaters May 26th. Check out the synopsis for the film below.

In the follow-up to the record-breaking hit comedy “The Hangover,” Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to exotic Thailand for Stu’s wedding. After the unforgettable bachelor party in Las Vegas, Stu is taking no chances and has opted for a safe, subdued pre-wedding brunch. however, things don’t always go as planned. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Bangkok can’t even be imagined.