Opinion ID: 810056
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Yellow Pages

Text: The State of Washington requires telephone companies (“local exchange carriers” or “LECs”) to publish and distribute residential listings, business listings, and certain consumer information for each customer in the local exchange. Wash. Admin. Code § 480-120-251. Local telephone companies often contract with publishers to satisfy this requirement by producing yellow pages directories. The contents of phone books generally fall into three categories: (1) business “white pages” sections, which provide names, addresses, and phone numbers of local businesses and professionals in alphabetical order; (2) traditional yellow pages, which list businesses by category of product or service; and (3) public interest material, which includes community information, maps, and government listings. In large cities, the directories are sometimes divided into multiple volumes. Paid advertising is mixed in with the listings. It typically constitutes less than half of the content in the yellow pages. For example, the 2010 Dex Seattle Metro business directory contained 1,344 pages. Of those, 96 were community pages, 404 were business “white pages,” and 844 were business “yellow pages.” Display advertising comprised about 35% of the 2010 Dex Seattle Metro yellow pages. Users consult phone books for a number of reasons, including finding business, government, and personal telephone numbers and addresses, identifying businesses that provide a desired service or good, comparing goods and services available from multiple sellers, and learning about local telephone service and the community. Customers receive the directories free of charge. The City estimates that yellow pages generate 1300 tons of waste each year, costing the municipality $190,000 annually. DEX MEDIA WEST, INC. v. SEATTLE 12319