We’ve had lawsuits over Fortnite dancing. We’ve had lawsuits over… weird stuff happening at Gearbox. There was that whole business with Bethesda and Fallout Shelter. The past few months have been wildly litigious in the gaming world, but this next one takes the cake. Now, Take-Two has initiated a legal battle with the actual, current Pinkerton company over how its past iteration has been portrayed in Red Dead Redemption 2.
This lawsuit is actually coming from Take-Two, but is a response to a cease and desist sent to the publisher from Pinkerton, which itself is now a subsidiary of security firm Securitas AB. The cease and desist was received in December 2018, and Take-Two filed suit in response via a complaint last week. The cease and desist order demands Take-Two either pay a sum or offer royalties, while Take-Two’s lawsuit argues the Pinkerton characters in the game are a case of fair use.
As part of Take-two’s argument, the publisher points to a portrayal of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in many other works of fiction, including Deadwood, The Long Riders, and the aptly titled novels Pinkerton Detective Series. The argument here of course is that Pinkerton played an important role in American history, and as such use of the company in works of historical fiction are a matter of fair use.
Notably, Take-Two’s argument also includes a plea to the possible consequences of the suit:
“Particularly where there is no likelihood that consumers will be confused about the source of the creative work, trademark owners should not be permitted to use trademark law to harass authors, chill speech, and diminish the historical tenor of works like Red Dead 2. Historical fiction—television, movies, plays, books, and games—would suffer greatly if trademark claims like Defendants’ could even possibly succeed.”
[Source: Take-Two Interactive vs. Pinkerton document]
Best Movies TV Shows Like Red Dead Redemption 2 October 2018
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Best Movies and TV Shows Like Red Dead Redemption 2
If you want to stay on the lawless frontiers of Red Dead Redemption 2, make sure to check out these movies and TV shows when you're not playing the game.
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The Hateful Eight
A snowstorm forces a group of people together into a cabin, but nobody is quite who they seem, and their differences result in some bloody conflict. There's something about a roomful of charming killers that really makes The Hateful Eight speak to a lot of the themes in Red Dead Redemption 2.
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3:10 to Yuma
A poor rancher takes up a quest to get a legendary outlaw on a train to Yuma prison before his gang can rescue him. One man just trying to make it in a difficult world, while the other is a charming, honorable, and unpredictable outlaw. This film is one of my favorites, and immediately calls to mind Red Dead Redemption 2.
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Django Unchained
A salve turned bounty hunter sets upon a Southern plantation house, with some glorious twists and turns that are sure to delight. It's a brutal story about a means to an end, a tale of vengeance. It's not always easy to cheer for someone doing something bad, but when it's for the right reasons, Django Unchained and Red Dead Redemption 2 find themselves very similar to one another.
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Justified
A modern day officer of the law does his job with a 19th century flair. It might not take place at the turn of the century, but the themes and style present certainly make Justified feel a lot like Red Dead Redemption 2.
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True Grit
A young girl has her grit tested as she hunts down her father's killer with the help of a disgruntled US Marshall. A true Western tale that has everything from vengeance to redemption, worthy of being on your Red Dead Redemption 2 watchlist.
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Firefly
Firefly is a Western in space, and at its heart is Mal and his charming gang of outlaws. It's just as much a story about the people as it is about the setting, which speaks to Red Dead Redemption 2's ensemble cast of a gang that's more like a family.
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Godless
A coal mine accident kills nearly every man in small town, leaving the women to fight for themselves against some wily businessmen and a gang of outlaws trying to find a rogue member of the group. While it has something of a slow start, Godless is one of the best portrayals of the period that I've seen and deserves its comparison to Red Dead Redemption 2.
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Sons of Anarchy
The Sons of Anarchy are just like outlaw gangs of old, only they traded their horses for motorcycles. The Sons are family, living life just outside of the law to make ends meet in a world that doesn't quite understand them. If that doesn't speak to what Red Dead Redemption 2 is all about, I don't know what does.
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O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Three prisoners escape from a chain gang and set out on a quest that takes them through a number of different events. While it might be a little bit later than when Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place, the sheer variety of things they encounter reminds one of RDR2's vast and varied open-world.
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Longmire
This is another series that takes place in the modern day, but its themes are very Western in nature, pitting the outlaws against those that would maintain law and order.
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The Magnificent Seven
This one is a classic, or a remake of a classic, depending on which one you watch! How could it not end up on this list?
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The Revenant
The American Frontier wasn't all about the conflict between men. Sometimes it was a conflict against nature itself. The Revenant is the true story of a man attacked by a bear and left for dead. Red Dead Redemption 2 has a diverse and living ecosystem of flora and fauna, so there will be as much fighting against the beauty of the environment as these is fighting against other outlaws and the lawmen that would bring your gang to justice.
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The Walking Dead
When the last vestiges of modern society fade away, we'll find ourselves back in that tenuous time where the lines of legality where blurry, and people did what they had to just to survive. The Walking Dead eliminates society as we know it, taking us back to that era. Or maybe it's just the accents that remind us of Red Dead Redemption 2.
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Lonesome Dove
This might be a case of "the book's better," but Lonesome Dove is an incredible and detailed look at the American Wild West. If you want a work that gets the feeling and immersion of the frontier like Red Dead Redemption 2, don't look much further than Lonesome Dove.
