Fans of the Old West in history, movies and books are likely familiar with the name Pinkerton. It has popped up in works ranging from Louis L'Amour novels to television shows like Deadwood. The age-old detective agency showed up again recently, this time in real life, via a lawsuit against a popular video game.
History buffs will recall Scotsman Allan Pinkerton founded the detective agency in 1850. That outfit would go on to become one of the largest private law enforcement agencies at the height of its power. The agency says it hired the first female detective in America and its founder helped foil an assassination attempt against President Abraham Lincoln. And it gave the James Gang fits back in the day.
But unlike posses and cattle drives, which faded into the folds of history, Pinkerton is still around. It operates as Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, a division of a Swedish security company. And the company isn't too happy about going unpaid while its name is being used in a wildly popular video game about the Old West.
The game is called Red Dead Redemption 2--as opposed to Red Dead Redemption 1--and follows a group of outlaws on the run from Pinkerton agents in the later years of the Old West. Pinkerton agents actually serve as the game's antagonists, and the company wants to be paid for the name, asking in a cease-and-desist letter that it receive a lump sum or ongoing royalties.
Red Dead Redemption 2's publisher, Take-Two Interactive, fired back in a lawsuit of its own, seeking an injunction against Pinkerton and a ruling that the use of the Pinkerton name in the game be covered by the First Amendment.
The game's publisher has pointed out several other works have made reference to Pinkerton without issue and accused the agency of trying to profit off their game, which sold 17 million copies in the first two weeks of being released, according to technology website The Verge.
This legal dispute is about more than just a video game. It's actually an important test and clarification for our current copyright system, which is consistently tweaked by new technologies. Not to mention new video games.
This is America. So to the briefs, boys! It'll be interesting to see if the Pinkertons ring up another gotcha, or if the quick-draw game controllers get away.
Either way, now we're in the mood to watch one of the best Westerns ever made, and one that featured the Pinkerton agency, to boot: The Long Riders. Spoiler alert: Jesse James dies in the end.
Editorial on 01/21/2019