PARIS -- Yahoo France said Tuesday a court ruling to stop the French from accessing online sales of Nazi memorabilia could set a dangerous precedent for Internet users worldwide.
The French subsidiary of Yahoo also warned that it was technically impossible to fully comply with the ruling and did not discount lodging an appeal.
In the first verdict of its kind in France, a Paris court accused Yahoo on Monday of offending "the collective memory of the country" by allowing Nazi souvenirs to be sold on one of the English-language sites it hosts.
It gave the California-based company until July 24 to "make it impossible" for Web surfers here to access the auctions.
"The whole question goes above Yahoo," said Yahoo France Director General Philippe Guillanton.
"The point is whether we want to condemn the Internet to be closed in the same way that the media have traditionally been closed by frontiers," he told Reuters in an interview.
"This case could set a potentially dangerous precedent."
A Yahoo.com auction site puts hundreds of Nazi, neo-Nazi, and Ku Klux Klan objects up for auction each day, including films, swastikas, uniforms, daggers, photos, and medals.
Although permitted in the United States, under French law it is illegal to exhibit or sell objects with racist overtones.
"The Paris court has dropped a bomb on the Web by condemning Yahoo," Liberation newspaper said Tuesday.
Guillanton said he understood people's revulsion at the sales, but did not seem to think Yahoo would ban them.
"To comply with a non-U.S. legal position, we would put ourselves in a censorship position in the U.S.," he said, adding that company lawyers were considering an appeal.
The Yahoo trial has parallels with a long-running battle between CompuServe's German operation and the German courts.
In that case, the former head of CompuServe Germany was found guilty in 1998 of heading a group that failed to block online access to obscene material as defined under German law.
The verdict was subsequently overturned in 1999, following widespread condemnation from Internet experts and industry watchers both inside and outside of Germany.
Yahoo lawyers argued along similar lines to CompuServe, saying the firm could not be held liable for material posted to a U.S. Web server and which complied with U.S. legislation.
"It is the first case where a judge in one country feels that he is competent to decide over what actions he thinks an actor (in another country) should be taking," said Guillanton.
France is a recent convert to the Internet and lags well behind the United States in usage.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is eager to promote the Web, hoping it will prove a motor for economic growth. But as the Internet takes hold, it is also running into legal problems.
Earlier this month, another French court moved against an auction website run by Nart.com, saying its online sales operating from the United States were illegal here where state auctioneers still hold a monopoly on public auctions.
Nart.com chairman Antoine Beaussant has appealed.
"They are saying that French law should apply to American companies," he said. "France is struggling with its new economy revolution."
