Sony settles lawsuit with Kevin Butler actor

Jerry Lambert, the actor who played Kevin Butler in dozens of PlayStation adverts, has settled a lawsuit with Sony over his appearance in a commercial for Bridgestone tyres.

As part of the terms of the settlement, reported by MediaPost, Lambert admitted that the advertisement may have caused confusion and that his contract with Sony meant he was unable to promote products from other video game companies.

Lambert has agreed to spend the next two years not appearing to promote "any other video game or computer entertainment system or video game company." Once Lambert's two years on the naughty step have played out, he has also agreed to spend the next two years giving Sony the heads-up in any subsequent advertisement which endorses a competitor's product.

The Kevin Butler character still remains in the possession of Sony, as you might expect, although we haven't seen Sony use the character in a while.

The original lawsuit came about in September 2012 after Lambert was seen playing a Nintendo Wii in a US advertisement for the tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, with players able to pick up one of Nintendo's consoles as part of a promotion.

Later the advert was edited to remove Lambert, as Sony alleged that its contract with Lambert stopped him from endorsing its competitors and that Bridgestone had essentially poached the Kevin Butler character. Bridgestone, however, denied that Kevin Butler was featured in the advertisement.

"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," said Sony at the time.

While Sony and Lambert have now settled their differences, the publisher is still engaged in a legal tussle with Bridgestone.