Removing lighting gradient from a JPG

[SRM12345]

I am using Illustrator/Photoshop CS6.

I found a texture pattern online that I really like online. It's a JPG image from an older iPhone background. The problem is that there's a light effect shining on the image. I'd like to back that out to just have the pattern. I've made various attempts with Adobe Illustrator to convert the image to vectors -- I thought maybe I could get it to just trace the lines by telling it there were only 3 colors in the image, but that didn't work out. So in Photoshop, I've tried a few different filters, but I haven't found one that essentially deletes a gradient overlay.

Here's the image I'm wanting to cleanup:

http://im5.leaderhero.com/wallpaper/20140212/2f9dc0ab-a.jpg

At the end of the day, I'd like a flat version of that graphic that I can tile. A vector render that I can scale would be even better. Any ideas?

[SRM12345]

Funny... I tried to select the specular highlight and then do Content-Aware delete. It didn't a good enough job, but I was surprised at how close it got!

[rayek.elfin · Accepted solution]

1. Duplicate the layer twice.
2. Select the first copy. Filter-->Blur-->Average
3. Select the second copy (top most layer). Filter-->Other-->High Pass
4. Use a high setting. Play around with this value. (If you need it live, convert this layer to a smart object first - recommended)
5. Change this layer's blend mode to Multiply
6. Add a Levels or Curves to control the brightness
7. Optional: select the first copied layer, and change the colour with a colour overlay effect for different coloured versions.