Small victory for Yahoo in Nazi case

SEARCH ENGINE outfit Yahoo has won a small victory against a court ruling that prevents it from flogging Nazi memorabilia on its US sites.

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has said it would rehear some arguments in the case against Yahoo by two French human rights groups.

France's Union of Jewish Students and the International Anti-Racism and Anti-Semitism League are trying to ban the sale of Nazi-related items on any Internet site viewable in France.

The two groups won a French court order requiring the company to block Internet surfers in France from auctions selling Nazi memorabilia. French law bars the display or sale of racist material.

Yahoo kept such items on yahoo.com and the French courts began levying fines on Yahoo of more than $13,000 per day starting in February 2001. Yahoo theoretically owes France more than $5 million.

Yahoo asked the US District Court to rule that the French order violated the US Constitution's First Amendment, however was told that Yahoo had to assume the risk that it could violate laws of other countries.

But in August, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Fogel's decision, saying he had no authority to hear the case. Now both sides will have to argue their cases again in front of an 11-judge panel, this spring.

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