In 2011 actress Junie Hoang (Huong
Hoang) anonymously filed a lawsuit against IMDb (Internet Movie Database) for
releasing her real age on their site. Hoang claims that roles dried up after
IMDb mined her account information to learn her true age and posted it on her
profile in 2008. She was seeking $1 million dollars in damages for breach of
contract. This past Thursday April 11, 2013 a Seattle jury rejected her claims
after Hoang failed to present any testimony, documents supporting her damages
allegations.
"En Vogue" the all
female R&B group known for hits like "Don't Go" and "Whatta
Man" have settled the lawsuit over name use. According to the judge's
ruling Cindy Herron and Terry Ellis are the only founding members allowed to
use it. Maxine Jones and Dawn Robinson the other two founding members had
started booking gigs as En Vogue in August of 2012. Herron and Ellis had
already formed a limited liability company, En Vogue Enterprises, LLC, in 2006
giving them legal leverage and putting the other members in violation. The
ruling explicitly limits how the trademarked name may be used by the other
members: "non-derogatory biographical information primarily of a personal
nature," and "professionally as ‘formerly of En Vogue' or words to
that effect." Herron and Ellis were also able to recover $15,000 in legal
fee.
Kanye West is now being sued
for a sample in his 2005 hit single "Gold Digger". The children of
the late David Pryor are saying West did not get clearance for the sample
"get down" which comes from Pryor's 1974 song "Bumpin Bus
Stop". 8 years after "Gold Digger: went #1 on the charts the children
are now asking a judge to block future sales and for millions in damages.
Each of these cases shows how
important privacy, trademarks, copyrights, contracts and proper clearance of works
can be. In the case of Hoang, I believe she has no case and should embrace her
age and try marketing it in a different way to increase her roles again.
Furthermore it teaches us that the information we place on a public site is not
private. In the case of "En Vogue" I'm a little disappointed that the
name was not registered sooner with all the members having rights, but this
case shows us how important having our business in order before going forward.
In the case of Kanye West, he may have
to settle the lawsuit for the use of the sample "get down". I
listened to both tracks and can't decide on if it was or wasn't a sample from
Pryor. There are laws to protect us all and it's very important that we follow
them to avoid lawsuits and arbitration's like these.
