Yahoo loses Nazi memorabilia case

Yahoo on Thursday lost its attempt to persuade a US appeals court to intervene in a landmark ruling in France over the sale of Nazi memorabilia on the company's websites. The decision by the US court should send a warning to online companies that operate globally that they will have to pay more attention to the local laws of countries in which they operate, said Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. However, Yahoo said that, based on the deliberations of the appeals court judges, it "believes that free speech rights would prevail if the French court orders were attempted to be enforced in the US" – something that could give it greater protection in future cases where foreign courts try to block material carried on its main Yahoo.com website.