War
of ages … Junie Hoang claimed the revelation of her years on the IMDB
Pro website, which is regularly used by Hollywood agents, lost her a
number of roles. Photograph: Gene Johnson/AP
A 42-year-old actor who claimed she lost out on movie roles after the Internet Movie Database published her real age has lost a landmark lawsuit against the website.
Texan Huong "Junie" Hoang had been backed by US acting unions in her bid to sue IMDb for breach of contract after the site used credit information and a third-party verification website to research her true age for its "Pro" subscription site, which is used extensively by Hollywood agents. A Seattle jury found yesterday that the Amazon-owned website had not breached any legal obligations to Hoang following a two-day trial.
When the actor first went to court in 2011 she did so anonymously, hoping to sue for $1m (£650,000) or more in punitive damages and $75,000 or more in compensatory damages. "If one is perceived to be 'over the hill', ie approaching 40, it is nearly impossible for an up-and-coming actress, such as the plaintiff, to get work as she is thought to have less of an 'upside'," read her suit at the time. However, a judge later forced Hoang to reveal her identity and her case was eventually pared back to focus on breach of a user agreement with IMDb.
The actor said she had deliberately failed to disclose her date of birth when she signed up for IMDb Pro in 2008, so was therefore surprised to see that someone had added it to her profile. All attempts to have the reference removed from the site were refused by IMDb, she said in her suit, and she subsequently lost out on a number of roles.
Attempts were made in earlier litigation to bring other actors whose careers had allegedly been damaged by IMDb into the action. Hoang, who starred in little-known productions such as Fifth Ward, A Gang Land Love Story and Ungirlfriendable, was backed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) which issued a statement berating the site's actions.
"An actor's actual age is irrelevant to casting," it read. "What matters is the age range that an actor can portray. For the entire history of professional acting, this has been true but that reality has been upended by the development of IMDb as an industry standard used in casting offices across America."
IMDb argued in court that it had the right to present accurate information, with lawyer Harry Schneider describing its position as a "search for truth" and labelling Hoang "selfish". Details of the jury's deliberations have not emerged, but it appears the court gave more credence to those arguments than to those of Hoang and SAG-AFTRA.
Texan Huong "Junie" Hoang had been backed by US acting unions in her bid to sue IMDb for breach of contract after the site used credit information and a third-party verification website to research her true age for its "Pro" subscription site, which is used extensively by Hollywood agents. A Seattle jury found yesterday that the Amazon-owned website had not breached any legal obligations to Hoang following a two-day trial.
When the actor first went to court in 2011 she did so anonymously, hoping to sue for $1m (£650,000) or more in punitive damages and $75,000 or more in compensatory damages. "If one is perceived to be 'over the hill', ie approaching 40, it is nearly impossible for an up-and-coming actress, such as the plaintiff, to get work as she is thought to have less of an 'upside'," read her suit at the time. However, a judge later forced Hoang to reveal her identity and her case was eventually pared back to focus on breach of a user agreement with IMDb.
The actor said she had deliberately failed to disclose her date of birth when she signed up for IMDb Pro in 2008, so was therefore surprised to see that someone had added it to her profile. All attempts to have the reference removed from the site were refused by IMDb, she said in her suit, and she subsequently lost out on a number of roles.
Attempts were made in earlier litigation to bring other actors whose careers had allegedly been damaged by IMDb into the action. Hoang, who starred in little-known productions such as Fifth Ward, A Gang Land Love Story and Ungirlfriendable, was backed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) which issued a statement berating the site's actions.
"An actor's actual age is irrelevant to casting," it read. "What matters is the age range that an actor can portray. For the entire history of professional acting, this has been true but that reality has been upended by the development of IMDb as an industry standard used in casting offices across America."
IMDb argued in court that it had the right to present accurate information, with lawyer Harry Schneider describing its position as a "search for truth" and labelling Hoang "selfish". Details of the jury's deliberations have not emerged, but it appears the court gave more credence to those arguments than to those of Hoang and SAG-AFTRA.
SOURCE : http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/apr/12/imdb-age-lawsuit-junie-hoang
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