The Game Reporter: Kevin Butler under fire

It seems Sony isn't happy with Kevin Butler playing Mario Kart Wii on a Bridgestone commercial and has now filed a lawsuit against the actor Jerry Lambert of Wildcat Creek, and of Bridgestone.

Sony Computer Entertainment America filed a lawsuit against Bridgestone and Wildcat Creek, Inc. on September 11. 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.

As if Sony wasn't doing enough damage for itself. Now Kevin Butler may have done more damage to the Sony brand than they thought. But there is more to this story than meets the eye.

Actor Jerry Lambert, who plays the hilarious and arrogant Kevin Butler character in PlayStation commercials, is the president of Wildcat Creek according to Corporationwiki.com. SCEA claims that Bridgestone and Lambert violated one of Sony’s intellectual properties. Which one? Well, Kevin Butler.

In February of this year, Lambert began to appear in a series of Bridgestone promotions. You can see the actor mocking former NFL player Deion Sanders at the end of this ad:

Now, for those of you who are wondering what ad was it, well Venture Beat, who posted up the info, has shown off the ad that began Lambert's pursuit into Bridgestone right here

And as you are aware, there was an ad where Lambert and others were test driving the Nintendo Wii, which will be outdated and replaced with the Wii U next month. It was referred to as the GameOn promotion at Bridgestone

Bridgestone and Wildcat Creek are now running a “GameOn” promotion where customers can get a $70 American Express gift card or a Nintendo Wii console. A recent ad for this promotion — which the official Bridgestone YouTube account has removed from the video-sharing site — featured Lambert in a white lab coat appearing with the Nintendo console and a running copy of Mario Kart Wii.

And ironically, it seems removing Lambert from the commercial was not enough and has made Sony furiously mad. Here's hoping Lambert can survive the lawsuit. And if anyone should replace Kevin Butler, it should be Charlie Sheen.