Sony Sheds Some Light on Their Lawsuit against Kevin Butler

It looks like we have some new information regarding the lawsuit Sony filed against Bridgestone  and Jerry Lambert’s Wildcat Creek, Inc. In a statement issued to Kotaku about this lawsuit, Sony stated the following:

“Sony Computer Entertainment America filed a law suit 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.”

With this new information, the lawsuit does make more sense. Kevin Butler was established as a spokesperson for the PlayStation brand, although he hasn’t seen the light of day in a while, using Lambert in an advertisement featuring a competing product might confuse the general consumer. Anyway, what the Court will make of this lawsuit is anyone’s guess, we’ll just have to wait and see.