The tattoo designer S. Victor Whitmill has asked a federal court in Missouri to grant an injunction preventing Warner Brothers releasing the movie this month, citing what he calls the "unauthorised exploitation" of the design he inked around Tyson's left eye. Trailers for the film suggest that the plot involves the character Stu Price, played by the comedian Ed Helms, waking up after a night out to discover that he has an identical tattoo to the boxer's.
According to Mr Whitmill, that breaches a copyright he took out on the tribal design in 2003. "When [he] created the Original Tattoo, Mr Tyson agreed that Mr Whitmill would own the artwork and thus, the copyright in the Original Tattoo," reads his lawsuit, which seeks to have release of the film blocked unless acceptable compensation can be agreed.
"Warner Bros Entertainment – 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," notes his court papers. "This unauthorised exploitation of the Original Tattoo constitutes copyright infringement." Attached to the lawsuit is a copy of his copyright registration for the so-called "Original Tattoo," along with a release form signed by Tyson at his Las Vegas studio in 2003, granting rights to the design.
3 comments:
They say any publicity is good publicity... but I think this tattoo artist is going to end up negating any positive benefits this movie exposure might have given him and his business.
Would it have been so onerous for the studio to get the artist's permission and maybe pay him a small royalty?
And they maybe could have even had him design the fake one used in the movie. It's not nearly as nice-looking as the original somehow.
You think the original is nice-looking?
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