## Facts

- Anti-racism organizations sued Yahoo! Inc. (U.S.) and Yahoo! France (French subsidiary) after Nazi memorabilia and related content were offered through Yahoo!’s U.S.-hosted services.
- Nazi items (including insignia and propaganda) were listed on Yahoo!’s auction platform accessible through yahoo.com; French residents could reach the auctions from France.
- French law prohibited public exhibition of emblems recalling those used by organizations declared illegal under the Nuremberg Charter, subject to narrow exceptions not applicable to commercial auctions.
- Yahoo! did not contest the existence of the auctions or their accessibility from France but argued the activity occurred under U.S. jurisdiction.
- Yahoo! contended effective blocking of French users was technically impossible or economically prohibitive and raised U.S. free-speech objections.
- The matter proceeded in interim (référé) proceedings in a Paris trial court, which initially ordered Yahoo to prevent French access and appointed technical experts to assess feasible compliance measures.

## Issues

1. Whether a French court could exercise jurisdiction over a U.S. company for online content hosted in the United States but accessible in France and allegedly harmful in France.
2. Whether Yahoo! Inc. and Yahoo! France could be ordered to prevent or substantially hinder French users’ access to Nazi memorabilia auctions and related prohibited content.
3. Whether technical measures existed that, while not perfect, were sufficient to satisfy a court order to deter and make access from France effectively impossible or significantly reduced.

## Decision

- The court held it had jurisdiction because the challenged content was accessible from France and the alleged harm occurred in France.
- The court found that making Nazi memorabilia auctions accessible to French users violated French public order and the applicable criminal prohibition.
- The court ordered Yahoo! Inc., within three months, to implement technical measures to identify access from France and block or substantially hinder access from France to:
  - Nazi memorabilia auctions; and
  - related services constituting an apology for Nazism or a contestation of Nazi crimes.
- The court set a penalty of 100,000 French francs per day for failure to comply after the deadline.
- The court ordered Yahoo! France to display a warning to users moving from yahoo.fr to yahoo.com about potential exposure under French law.

## Legal Principles

- A court may assert jurisdiction over foreign-hosted online conduct when the content is accessible within the forum and the harmful effects are experienced there.
- Online display and sale of prohibited symbols can be treated as “public” exhibition within the forum when users in the forum can access the content.
- Interim injunctive relief may require reasonable technical measures that materially reduce prohibited access; perfect effectiveness is not required where meaningful reduction is feasible.
- The existence of technical constraints and partial effectiveness does not bar injunctive relief when expert evidence supports that filtering can significantly limit access from the forum.

## Conclusion

The court applied effects-based jurisdiction and ordered Yahoo! to implement geo-filtering and related measures to materially restrict French access to Nazi memorabilia auctions and similar prohibited content, backed by substantial daily penalties, while also requiring a user warning on the French portal.


LICRA v. Yahoo! Inc., No. 00/05308 (Trib. gr. inst. Paris Nov. 20, 2000)