Sony sues ‘Kevin Butler’ actor over Bridgestone Tires advert

8 October 2012 by Peter Parrish

Jerry Lambert, the actor who played pretend executive Kevin Butler in a series of adverts for Sony, is now part of a Sony lawsuit brought against advertising firm Wildcat Creek and tire company Bridgestone. Lambert is president of the Wildcat Creek company and began appearing in a series of promotions produced for Bridgestone Tires earlier this year.

In early September, Bridgestone launched a “Game On” promotion in which customers could pick up a free Nintendo Wii with enough tire purchases. Lambert appeared in a video playing Mario Kart on the Wii with other actors.

On 11 September, Sony filed their lawsuit against Wildcat and Bridgestone. The video described above was taken down a few days later.

In a written statement, Sony Computer Entertainment of America states that this suit is based on “violations of the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract and tortious interference with a contractual relationship.”

“We invested significant resources in bringing the Kevin Butler character to life and he’s become an iconic personality directly associated with PlayStation products over the years. Use of the Kevin Butler character to sell products other than those from PlayStation misappropriates Sony’s intellectual property, creates confusion in the market, and causes damage to Sony.”

Source: VentureBeat