Bridgestone claims Kevin Butler not in their commercial

Tire manufacturer Bridgestone has denied that Kevin Butler appeared in a commercial that recently drew a lawsuit from Sony. Court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter affirm that Jerry Lambert--the actor who portrayed Kevin Butler in a series of PlayStation commercials--appeared in the ad, but deny any wrongdoing.

"Mr. Lambert is one of the actors who appeared in the commercial as a Bridgestone engineer," Bridgestone said. "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."

The documents go on to explain that Bridgestone plans to fight the lawsuit by making clear Sony held no mark for "Kevin Butler" and that there is no likelihood of confusion.

Sony's lawsuit against Bridgestone originated from an advertisement in which Lambert was shown playing Mario Kart Wii, a product of PlayStation competitor Nintendo. This advertisement has since been pulled. Sony's suit claims Bridgestone's use of the Kevin Butler character is a misrepresentation of Sony intellectual property and in fact has caused the publisher damages.

"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," Sony said in a statement. "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."