We've been following this case with mild interest... Huong Hoang, aka Junie Hoang, is the Asian American actress suing the Internet Movie Database for posting her age on her public IMDB profile. She claims that the site violated her privacy by posting her age, which has led to a "substantial decrease in acting credits, employment opportunities and earnings."I don't know if she's got much of a case, but the arguments are interesting. The Hollywood Reporter has been following the trial with recaps and analysis. Here's the take on day one, during which Hoang and IMDB battled over the importance of truth and perception in the digital age: Actress Suing IMDb Takes the Witness Stand.
And here's the recap of day two, where things got a little lively, and Hoang was challenged about how much IMDB's posting of her true age actually affected her acting career: Actress Suing IMDb Faces Tough Questions on Second Day of Trial.
Taking questions on direct examination, Hoang spoke about her work and how she has been compensated as an actress.I'm no expert, but I've always found this part of her case particularly weak and extremely difficult to prove. She says that the public posting of her age led to a significant decrease in acting opportunities and income. But it's not like she had much of an acting career in the first place -- had anyone really heard of Junie Hoang before this lawsuit? Suing IMDB is now the most famous thing in her body of work.
Hoang emphasized that her income decreased following IMDb's display of her true birthdate. She testified that she amended her tax returns and that the amounts of money disclosed in tax filings did not present the full extent of her income. She also told the jury how she had read and relied on IMDb’s privacy policy when signing up for an IMDb Pro account and how it was her understanding that the policy protected her “legal name” (as opposed to her nickname).
The plaintiff was sharply questioned on cross-examination.
Harry Schneider, IMDb’s lawyer, walked Hoang through her tax returns. Without coming out and saying it, he highlighted that Hoang didn’t make very much money from acting, and that she deducted a fair amount of expenses for the amount of money she made. For example, her acting income in 2010 was between $1000 and $2000, but she deducted amounts for hair and makeup ($987), shoes ($318.86) and miscellaneous expenses ($523). The implication was that Hoang's acting was more of a hobby and less of a serious occupation.
UPDATE: The verdict has come down. The Internet Movie Database is victorious, and Huong Hoang gets nothing: IMDb Wins Lawsuit Against Actress Suing Over Age Revelation.
