Yahoo! wins appeal in France over Nazi paraphernalia

A Paris appeals court has upheld a decision that absolved the Internet platform Yahoo! of any legal responsibility for auctions of Nazi paraphernalia formerly held through its website. The attorney for Yahoo! said the decision made clear that the company and its former chief executive, Tim Koogle, were not responsible for the Nazi collectibles sold. In 2003, a Paris court ruled that Yahoo and Koogle never sought to "justify war crimes and crimes against humanity" –the accusation leveled by human rights activists, including Holocaust survivors and their families. The case was initiated in 2000 when France's Union of Jewish Students and the International Anti-Racism and Anti-Semitism League sued Yahoo for allowing Nazi collectibles, including flags emblazoned with swastikas, to be sold on its auction pages. The case led to a landmark ruling in France, with a court ordering Yahoo to block Internet surfers in France from auctions selling Nazi memorabilia. French law bars the display or sale of racist material. Yahoo eventually banned Nazi material as it began charging users to make auction listings, saying it did not want to profit from such material.