Yahoo v. Some French Guys

Poor Yahoo!, those wacky French are at it again.

There is a French law which prohibits French citizens from buying anything that contains symbols of Third Reich, and which also prohibits the sale of or access to any expressive work that serves as an apology for Nazism, or which questions or denies the existence of the Holocaust. The French group "League Against Anti-Semitism" claimed that Yahoo Inc. (Not Yahoo, SAS the French Yahoo subsidiary) violates the French law because Yahoo, Inc. does not prevent French citizens from accessing its auction site to buy the forbidden items or from using yahoo.com to visit other sites which contain content which glorifies nazism, makes apologies for it, or which makes the forbidden expressive works available.

So the French League obtained a judgment in French court that says that as long as Yahoo, Inc. is in violation because of the content available on yahoo.com, they are subject to a fine of 100 THOUSAND Francs a day (wonder what the conversion to Euros is).

Thus begins our case which can be found in part at 379 F.3d 1120. Yahoo Inc. sued the French League seeking a declaratory judgment that the French order was uneforceable in the US under the US constitution. The French League filed a 12(b) motion objecting to exercise of personal jurisdiction. The District Court disagreed and found that there were grounds for exercise of specific jurisdiction, and then granted a MSJ for Yahoo. A Panel for the 9th Circuit overturned the District Court holding that in order for "express aiming" to be grounds for specific jurisdiction (limited contacts & Calder v. Jones) the conduct had to be wrongful, and the French League was not involved in wrongful conduct. Then the court decided to rehear the issue en banc.

Yesterday was the hearing, I attended.

First off, the court is BEAUTIFUL! Wow, I didn't know we had any buildings that nice, the enterior is even nicer than City Hall, and that is saying something. Think art deco gone over the top. Think sylized Giant Gilded Eagles like that reach all the way to the ceiling, my classmate said they reminded him of some of the sets from Brazil.

The professor we went with pointed out how collegial the attorneys were with each other. I thought that was nice, not having to be agressive with each other, rising or falling on the strength of your argument, position and presentation.

I don't know if counsel for the French League had ever appeared before the court before. He said "I don't know" and "it's my understanding" a lot. His voice didn't carry and it seemed like the judges were kind of having their way with him. Counsel for Yahoo was much more composed and less flappable. He even got into a "yes it is!, no it isn't" exchange with Cranky Old Circuit Judge. That was GOLD, it was like watching a teenager spar with dad, except they were both gray and balding.

The en banc group was very interested in the Merits of the case. Counsel for the French League got to discuss it some, but Counsel for Yahoo was peppered with questions about the nature of the fine, the effect on Yahoo.com as a publicly held business, and whether the conditional statements from the league that they wouldn't seek enforcement of the judgment as long as yahoo.com is in substantial compliance with the law were binding on either the French League or the French Court. He spent his last 3 minutes talking about jurisdiction, and then the head judge yelled at him for going over time, even though he'd been answering another judge's question.

I wonder when they will issue the opinion.