By now, you’ve probably seen the trailer for The Hangover 2, which is pretty much a carbon copy of the trailer for The Hangover but with minor differences littered throughout (no, really: Watch them side-by-side. They’re the same goddamn movie.) Anyway, one of the differences involves Ed Helms‘ character waking up with a face tattoo based on Mike Tyson‘s ink. It turns out, Tyson’s tattoo artist actually copyrighted the image and by using it without their permission, he can sue the pants off them.
The guy who applied Tyson’s face tattoo back in 2003 is S. Victor Whitmill — who claims he not only created the design, but copyrighted it as well. In fact, Whitmill says he’s never allowed ANYONE to use the image since he put it on Tyson. Now, Whitmill has filed a lawsuit in federal court in St. Louis, claiming Warner Bros. — the studio behind the movie — violated his copyright … and he wants to block the studio from showing the tattoo in the film. SOURCE
While I think that face tattoos are generally fucking stupid, I do actually like Tyson’s based solely on the design. Anyway, consider this a lesson to you all: tattoos are unique, and you can’t just go ripping off people’s tattoos. Unless it’s that one with the panther. Seriously, just google ‘panther tattoo’ and there are like a friggin’ bajillion people with the same tattoo. What the crap?