Warner Brothers have filed court papers indicating their intention to remove a controversial tattoo from the face of Ed Helms’ character in The Hangover: Part II, following attempts by its designer to sue the studio.

S. Victor Whitmill, the tattooist who gave boxer Mike Tyson his distinctive Maori-inspired facial tattoo, accused Warner Bros of copyright infringement after discovering that Helms’ character Stu spends most of the film with a near-identical tattoo which he acquired whilst working on the titular hangover the night before its main events.

It’s not clear whether Yakko, Wakko and Dot have noticed that the already feeble joke which is painstakingly dragged out of Stu’s tattoo will completely fail to work if, as they are currently promising, they digitally alter it ahead of The Hangover: Part II‘s DVD release. Whitmill’s attempt to stop the film being released last month failed after a judge ruled that although Warner Bros were probably in the wrong and most of their arguments were “just silly”, the expense and complication of withdrawing the film from theatres would not be in the public interest. We can’t say we agree…