Yellow Pages sues Seattle

Two publishers of Yellow Pages phone books and an industry association sued Seattle in federal court Monday, seeking to overturn an ordinance that would let residents decide if they want to receive business phone directories.

Dex Media West, SuperMedia LLC and the Yellow Pages Association claim in U.S. District Court in Seattle that the law passed by the City Council last month violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and will hurt them financially.

Proposed by Councilmember Mike O'Brien, the ordinance directs Seattle Public Utilities to set up a registry of residents who don't want to receive yellow pages, and requires distributors to honor those "opt-out" requests and pay a license fee and fees for each book and each ton of books delivered.

It also requires distributors to "prominently and conspicuously" post on book covers how to opt out of future deliveries.

The city estimates the books represent 3 percent of the paper that households dispose of for recycling.

Industry representatives said they believe the Seattle ordinance is the first of its kind.

Yellow Pages Association President Neg Norton said the ordinance is unnecessary because the association is improving its opt-out website, www.yellowpagesoptout.com, so that by early next year, residents anywhere in the country will be able to choose in a single visit which, if any, Yellow Pages books they want to receive.

"It doesn't do any good to deliver anybody a phone book that doesn't want one," Norton said. If other cities follow Seattle's lead, he said, it will confuse consumers faced with a "patchwork" of rules and opt-out websites.

O'Brien said he and the city attorney's office "remain confident" the ordinance is constitutional.

Citizens are now paying $350,000 a year to recycle Yellow Pages, he said, and, "We're simply trying to recoup those costs from them in a way that we believe is constitutionally valid. They clearly would rather have the citizens pay those costs than the company pay for it."

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com