Bridgestone denies Kevin Butler complaints

Kevin Butler did not appear in the Bridgestone Tires ad at the centre of Sony’s new lawsuit, the tire company has claimed.

Yesterday MCV reported that Sony is suing both the tire company and ad agency Wildcat Creek – owned by Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert – amidst allegations that the Kevin Butler character appeared in a short for the company, playing a Nintendo Wii.

Specifically, Sony is arguing that the advertisement is question "depicts a Bridgestone employee who consumers reasonably perceive to be ‘Kevin Butler’ promoting the Nintendo Wii, a product that competes directly with SCEA’s PlayStation products".

The Wii featured as Bridgestone was offering a free console to those who purchased four tires.

Sony alleges that the contract with Wildcat contained an exclusivity clause preventing Lambert lending his likeness to market rivals.

But Bridgestone now argues that while Lambert appeared in the video, Butler did not.

"Mr Lambert is one of the actors who appeared in the commercial as a Bridgestone engineer," the company argued, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

"Bridgestone denies that ‘Kevin Butler’ appears in the Bridgestone commercial discussed herein and thus denies that he speaks or does anything whatsoever in the commercial."

It also claims that Sony has failed to register any trademark claims on the Kevin Butler character.