'Kevin Butler' actor settles suit with Sony

Actor Jerry Lambert has settled the breach of contract suit brought against him by Sony. He has agreed not to appear in any ad that mentions video games for two years, and then afterwards to notify Sony of video game ads for two years.

6

Actor Jerry Lambert, who played Kevin Butler in a popular run of PlayStation advertisements, has settled the breach of contract suit brought against him by Sony for appearing in a Bridgestone tires ad that promoted the Wii. Per the terms of the settlement, you won't see Lambert promoting anything video game related for a few years.

MediaPost (via Gamasutra) reports that Lambert acknowledged that he created confusion among some customers. As a result, he's agreed not to appear in any ad or promotion that mentions "any other video game or computer entertainment system or video game company" for two years. Once those two years are up, Lambert will spend two more years giving Sony notice of any video game commercials so it can assess whether it violates Sony's right to the Kevin Butler character.

Lambert is still able to portray the "Kevin Butler" character, with Sony's permission. Sony hasn't been using the character since the lawsuit started, so it's unknown if the company would be receptive to starting the campaign again.

Editor-In-Chief
Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 17, 2013 5:30 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, 'Kevin Butler' actor settles suit with Sony.

    Actor Jerry Lambert has settled the breach of contract suit brought against him by Sony. He has agreed not to appear in any ad that mentions video games for two years, and then afterwards to notify Sony of video game ads for two years.

    • reply
      January 17, 2013 6:58 PM

      Too bad by then his image will be gone.

      • reply
        January 17, 2013 7:29 PM

        Unless Sony does more 'Kevin Butler' commercials, which they should.

        • reply
          January 17, 2013 11:22 PM

          I just assumed they weren't going to work together anymore. But they should definitely do more.

          • reply
            January 18, 2013 7:36 AM

            "Lambert is still able to portray the "Kevin Butler" character, with Sony's permission."

            Only way that will happen is in a Sony commercial. But yeah probably too much bad blood at this point for that to ever happen.

            The first PS4 commercial should be the return of Kevin. Make it happen Sony!!!

    • reply
      January 18, 2013 6:49 AM

      I thought their ads with him were some of their best, they should really bring him back.

    • reply
      January 18, 2013 10:11 AM

      played out shit glad its over

Hello, Meet Lola