Multi-jurisdictional Compliance : Yahoo! Inc. G. WALISSER, 2002
Yahoo! Inc. (Yahoo) operated a number of Websites, including an auction site, a search engine directory at Yahoo.com (written in English) and a regional site at Yahoo.fr (written in French). On Yahoo's auction site, various third parties posted for sale Nazi-related propaganda and Third Reich-related memorabilia, including Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and "The Protocol of the Elders of Zion". In April 2000, the French-based International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism sent a "cease and desist" letter to Yahoo. LICRA warned Yahoo that the advertising and/or the sale of Nazi memorabilia and racist literature or objects on its auction site were prohibited in France. In January 2002, the French court brought criminal charges against Yahoo and Timothy Koogle, its former Chief Executive, for allegedly condoning war crimes by hosting sales of Nazi memorabilia. A trial date was set for January 2003.
The question for most on-line businesses was: if France could prevent Yahoo from hosting these auctions, could one country hold companies from other countries with on-line businesses liable for providing information about issues that were sensitive to that country?
What would be the implications of the French court's decision on countries enforcing their laws on a foreign Internet company whose Website content might be ojectionable in some countries; for example, could a conservative Persian Guld country prohibit access to a Website the provides information about birth control? Should France's example be held out as a model? What could be learned from the Yahoo case?