A federal jury in Seattle rejected a claim by a little known actress who claimed that after IMDb revealed her true age on its website, offers stopped coming her way.
Huong Hoang, better known as Junie Hoang, sued Amazon.com after IMDb posted her real age in its website. Allegedly, offers stopped pouring in after the website revealed her true age. However, a federal jury in Seattle rejected the claim on Thursday.
IMDb argued it had the right to publish correct information on its website and continues to list Hoang's age on her profile. Hoang had no proof that IMDb's revealing of her age was the reason why she was not being offered roles any more. The site was launched in 1990 and purchased by Amazon in 1998.
According to Hoang's claim, which was backed by U.S. acting unions, the website 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. However, the Seattle jury found the Amazon owned site had not breached any legal obligations to Hoang following a two-day trial.
Hoang first went to court in 2011 and hoped to sue the website for $1 million or more in punitive damages and $75,000 or more in compensatory damages. She filed the lawsuit anonymously.
"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, the court forced her to reveal her identity before going into trial. The actress said she'd deliberately failed to disclose her date of birth when she signed up for IMDb Pro in 2008, and was therefore surprised to see that someone had added it to her profile.
