Tuesday, October 18, 2011
"IF ONE IS PERCEIVED TO BE 'OVER-THE-HILL,' I.E., APPROACHING 40": An actress has sued IMDb for listing her real age in her online biography. While this may seem silly -- suing someone for printing truthful information, really? -- the complaint itself has a bit more teeth, alleging that the site's employment of information she submitted in setting up her IMDbPro subscription for this purpose constitutes breach of contract, fraud, an invasion of privacy, and a violation of state consumer protection law.
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The plaintiff is an Asian-American actress in Texas of almost a certain age who has been trying and failing to get discovered since 2003. That's a rough damages case to make, lady.
ReplyDeletewhy does this seem like a marketing ploy? Bring a suit, get people to wonder who you are, ta-da reveal yourself, do a Maxim spread, profit. i mean, if they misappropriated credit card information, there's an actual public policy interest, but I especially like, "she can't even play a 40 year old woman, she looks too young."
ReplyDeleteWas she on Friday Night Lights?
Yeah, I don't get the whole "she can't get roles as a 40 year old, so it would hurt her if people knew she was 40." Wouldn't that help her with her roles? Plus if she does get noticed (and when it comes out, her IMDB ranking will shoot up), won't they put her age on Wikipedia?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is where she claims "Plaintiff has a given legal name that is extremely difficult for Americans to spell and pronounce, and is generally not conductie to obtaining employment in the United States and particularly the entertainment industry." Are we talking Schwarzenegger difficult here?
Regardless, it's clear that if this were the '90s, she'd be up for some plum high school roles.
A boingboing commenter has offered this as a guess:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm1703159/
Not exactly struggling. I could see her frustration about not moving up to the next level. But then again, that happens to hundreds of third or fourth tier actresses all the time.
I have no knowledge of legalese, but the term "double-whammy" seems, um, surprising in a legal document. Am I just woefully ignorant in this area?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't use it, but if it gives the defendant notice of the claim, and the claim is itself actionable, it's good enough. "scandalous, impertinent or irrelvant" subject matter may be stricken, so perhaps avoid cussing.
ReplyDelete<span>That term originated in Justice Holmes's infamous decision in Buck v. Bell. It precedes that decision's most famous sentence: "Two generations of imbeciles are what one might call a 'double-whammy.' Three generations of imbeciles are enough."</span>
ReplyDeleteSome wag at Wikipedia has listed Smith Cho's age as almost 70.
ReplyDelete