France

The District Court of Paris ordered Marche.fr and its director to pay damages to the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association (DNF) because Marche.fr featured advertisements for discounted cigars and cigarette cartons on its website. In the District Court, Marche.fr argued that it should receive a decreased penalty because the advertisements were posted by a third party and the website simply hosted the advertising space. The District Court agreed. DNF appealed, claiming that the District Court's ruling was overly restrictive and that Marche.fr should be held liable for third-party content hosted on its site. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court judgment, holding that Marche.fr was not responsible for the tobacco advertising and took initiatives to stop the dissemination of the advertising when informed about the existence of the ads.