Warner Bros has settled its $30 million lawsuit by Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist. meaning they won’t have to digitally scrub Ed Helms’ face for the DVD version (meanwhile, the football team will still be “digitally scrubbing” your sister’s pussy under the bleachers this Friday). When the artist, S. Victor Whitmill, sued back in May, it seemed like a typical case of a guy who suffered no damages looking for a paycheck, and probably was. However, it was interesting in that Whitmill had taken the unusual step of copyrighting the tattoo. When WB didn’t pay Whitmill after the tattoo appeared in the first movie, he had no case, presumably because Tyson had already paid Whitmill for the use of his work on Tyson’s body, and WB wasn’t required to make a second, separate agreement for the tattoo. But in the second movie, when they put the same tattoo on Ed Helms, that would require an agreement about compensation, barring some kind of fair use argument. Of course, now we’ll never get to see how that case plays out, because WB figured it was just easier to throw money at it to make it go away like one of your sister’s abortions.
Terms of the settlment were not disclosed. When asked for comment, Whitmill attorney Geoff Gerber provided THR the following statement: “Warner Bros. and Mr. Whitmill have amicably resolved their dispute. No other information will be provided.”
Warners attorneys must have been concerned that Judge Perry suggested she saw merit in the case, even referring to the studio’s defenses as “silly.” In subsequent court filings, Warners said that it planned to digitally alter the tattoo for the home video version of the film if the case didn’t settle quickly. And now it has. A notice of dismissal is expected to be filed shortly. [THR]
No one knows how much he got paid, but considering the Hangover II has grossed more than $500 million worldwide, it was almost certainly more money than I’ll make this year. Perfect. Next thing you know, gilded butterflies will be coming out of the woodwork every time Megan Fox makes a movie.
