Kevin Butler actor sued by Sony
- Posted October 8th, 2012 at 05:33 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 10 Comments
Jerry Lambert, best known among PlayStation fans as the actor who portrays marketing maestro Kevin Butler, is being sued by Sony for breach of contract.
The news comes as Lambert was featured in a commercial for Bridgestone’s Game On promotion, where he is seen playing Nintendo Wii in a similar style to his Sony executive alter ego.
As a result, Sony has launched a lawsuit against Bridgestone and Wildcat Creek Inc., the latter being Lambert’s own production company, citing intellectual property and trademark infringement.
Writing in a statement to Kotaku, Sony commented: Wildcat Creek Inc. claiming intellectual property and trademark infringement.
"The claims are 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."
Lambert has since been edited out of the commercial in question and the footage was later reissued. The original advert featuring Lambert can be viewed via GoNintendo.
Sony's attorney's told the Northern District of California court on September 26 that both parties were close to resolving the issue. The console maker has until October 12 to either withdraw or continue through to a hearing.
Stay tuned to PSU.com for more details.
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- 3
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Corvette-Steve
- 7:42am EDT - October 8th, 2012
- 4
Serves the money hungy f** just right, he was as gay as it gets.
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TheTenth666
- 8:56am EDT - October 8th, 2012
- 5
damn, the guy was still in contract with Sony??? how stupid is he? even if not, for sure his contract forbid him to use the "Kevin Butler" image for his own profit, so no way he didn't know the risks.
pretty sad to see the Kevin Butler phenomenon end like that.
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honomaru
- 10:06am EDT - October 8th, 2012
- 6
After seeing the headliner I was immediately and inexplicably anti-Sony on this, but after reading the article it's hard to feel sorry for him. This wasn't fine print antics on Sony's part. What he did was clearly suspect and he knows it which is most likely why the footage was edited. It'll be up to them to decide if his ceasing/desisting was too little/ too late. I'm pretty sure he's lost his job if he was still employed by them. What a sad day.
(P.S Also for some reason it never really dawned on me that Kevin Butler wasn't his real name. Never really gave it much thought lol)
R.I.P KB -
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Beasley2K
- 2:26pm EDT - October 8th, 2012
- 8
He didn't use the Kevin Butler character, at no point in the advert did it state or otherwise imply that Jerry was playing KB. Although I agree that this does cause confusion and damage to Sony. I can't see them firing him though, like Sony said, they've put a lot of resources into the character, and if they've edited him out then it's minimised the damage, right?
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CloudStrife37 |
CloudStrife37- 12:20pm EDT - October 9th, 2012
- 9
He's still a pre-order bonus for LittleBigPlanet Karting! There's rumor that he's the final boss in PlayStation All Stars. I mean, geez. I can understand him being in ANY commercial on television, except for that which is promoting another video game system or company.
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mondofish
- 1:59pm EDT - October 9th, 2012
- 10
Can't blame sony for this one, I saw this coming... After I saw the commercial on TV I was like "hmmmmm...thats kinda weird." I mean he doesn't call himself KB, but the way he was acting was very much KB... only difference was he had a Wii controller in his hand..
:\ what a fool...
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