...Kevin Butler is as real as Santa Claus. Santa Claus isn't real and certainly isn't a spokesman for the toy factory run by elves up north.

No I just meant the guy who was the actor for him. And of course Santa Claus is real I saw him getting chase by a man at night last christmas. The man chasing him was trying to show him his new baseball bat, and was yelling something about being with his wife. It was a very odd christmas.

Lol genuinely laughed out loud :D

Ahhhhh I dunno, what's real and what isn't / just don't know anymore!!!

...I'm not sure which side of the fence your on with this, my thinking though is that Jerry Lambert was employed to portray a character that Sony may or may not have the rights of "likeness" to. However, and I wasn't aware of this, someone here has said that Jerry Lambert has portrayed this character before but without the Kevin Butler name for the "Holiday Inn" chain. If that's the case, then it's possible Jerry himself owns the rights to the likeness of Kevin Butler, but obviously not the name itself. The name itself wasn't used in the Wii advert. It's arguable the likeness wasn't ever as that could just be "Jerry Lambert" being "Jerry Lambert".

There was no "spokesman" in my view, the idea of Jerry or Kevin Butler being a "spokesman" is just marketing spin in a fictional advert universe created to sell more PS3s...

In all honesty I don't really know who's right and who's wrong, but I can only really say from a common sense point of view it wasn't really a fight worth fighting for Sony because 1. Damage has already been done and 2. Aggresively defending a copyright of this nature isn't going to win friends 3. Makes company look petty and arrogant 4. Reminds people that "Kevin Butler" isn't real....I mean the list goes on, Sony is known for suing everyone in sight and not being particularly customer friendly with some of their policies.

Going at something so trivial as this with a chainsaw is just re-affirming people's beliefs that Sony is run by people in black suits devoid of personality and with blood at about room temperature.

IMPORTANT for the thread!

Sony comments on lawsuit against Bridgestone and Wildcat Creek
October 7th, 2012 Posted in General Nintendo, News, Posted by Valay | No Comments »

Unsurprisingly, Sony’s recent lawsuit against Bridgestone and Wildcat steps from the company’s dissatisfaction that actor Jerry Lambert appeared in the “Game On” commercial.

Senior director of corporate communications Dan Race provided a comment to GamesBeat. Race said that “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.”

“Sony Computer Entertainment America filed a lawsuit 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.”

--------------------

Bolded: Sony lost this. There's no mention of Kevin Butler in the ad at all - in fact I don't even know why people say it's similar (check this ad for similar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVBD8A8pAtU ) and it's not even an Wii Ad, it's a bridgestone ad featuring the Wii.

Seriously, they must lose... this is simply a dick move.

Really?  As far as I heard they had almost reached a settlement that amounted to little more then "No more wii adds."

It's a pretty cut and dry lose if they ever go to court, but it's just the same thing Sony did with Bleem!   They kept losing lawsuits but kept filing them anyway till they ran out of money/decided it wasn't worth it.

Likeness wouldn't really fit... I mean, he doesn't even wear the same clothes.

Unless the arguement is that sony can trademark a dudes real life face.

Which is ridiculious.

As for the Holiday Inn stuff.... you tell me.

Same thing right?

I am sure if the Wii had not been in that commercial, this wouldn't even be up for discussion because Sony would have never sued him. You guys realize that you can trademark a persona right? The idea that he looks like KB(i mean duh, it's his face), acts like KB(apparently he only has one persona) is enough. If Donald Trump can trade mark "Your Fired!" and Paris Hilton can trademark "Thats hot!", Sony assuredly can trade mark the KB personality which is contractually obligated to stay exclusive with PS for a time. If it had of been Jerry using his default KB personality to advertise just Bridgestone....no problem, yet the fact they put in one of PS's competitors is the key part of this.

OMG, look at that. Exactly what I have been trying to tell all of you. It sounds far fetch but you CAN trademark a person's physical likeness and personality, media does it all the time. Had the Wii not been in the commercial this would not have been a breach, but it was so IT is.

Looks nothing like Kevin Butler... but people see what they want.

By the way, have you seen the ad in my post. A business guy, behind a desk, reading requests from their fans with a big ass pic of himself behind him?

Where have I seen that... hmm

sony will not win this