Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Pinkerton, red dead redemption, red dead redemption 2, rockstar games

Pinkerton is Taking Legal Action Against Rockstar Games for RDR2 References

Rockstar Games is now dealing with a weird legal battle with Pinkerton over the use of their name in Red Dead Redemption 2. A lot of younger players may not even know this, but the Pinkerton National Detective Agency was a real thing, founded in 1850 as a private security company out of Chicago. Back in the day, you had a few options when it came to law enforcement and security, depending on how much cash you had and where you lived. Most places only had the local sheriff and U.S. Marshals to help out, but if you happened to be in more developed areas of the West, Pinkerton was a private firm option that served in several capacities. Their placement in RDR2 is one of the few things that are historically factual about the game's period in time.

So what does Pinkerton have against being in the game? According to The Blast, who got ahold of some legal documents, the company is ordering a cease and desist on Rockstar over the term Pinkerton due to trademark infringement on the name. The reason they're going after them is that they don't like the company portrayed as the villains in the game who will stop at nothing to hunt down the main protagonists. Which kinda makes us laugh because if Pinkerton had any sense of what Red Dead Redemption 2 was, they'd see that the Pinkerton characters are being portrayed quite accurately as lawmen hunting down criminals (which is what you play as in the game)!  And since you as the player are not opposed to throwing dynamite at people to get away, it only stands to reason they would use whatever means necessary to take you down.

We're pretty confident that based on the fact that Pinkerton has let their name be used in hundreds of pieces of fiction over the years and hardly ever sued for usage, this is going to get thrown out over the First Amendment. Especially since it's not disparaging the company of today. And it's kinda sad that those in charge can't see the simple storytelling prospect that lawmen are the villains when your main character is a criminal. But hey, sometimes even one of the biggest detective agencies in the country just doesn't have a clue.

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