Yahoo! has taken its battle with the French legal system one stage further and gone to a US federal court to try and protect its online auctions.

The US portal filed for a declaratory judgement today to try and wriggle out of a French ruling ordering it to stop French surfers accessing Nazi memorabilia on its auction sites. Last month a French court gave Yahoo 90 days to find a way to do this, saying it would otherwise be fined 100,000 francs ($13,905) per day.

Yahoo! wants the US judge in the federal district court in San Jose, California, to rule that a French court cannot hold a US company accountable for breaking French laws. It is also asking for a ruling before the fines kick in, CNET reported.

The case against Yahoo's French site started in April when the League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) decided to sue the dotcom over sales of Nazi artefacts on its sites. It is illegal to promote racist material in France. ®

Related Stories

Yahoo! Nazi tech expert backtracks
Yahoo! loses Nazi trinkets case
Yahoo! legally obliged to ban the French?
Anti-rascists sue Yahoo! over Nazi auction