In an order issued this morning, a US district court judge ruled against several phone book companies' request to overturn a Seattle law allowing people to "opt out" of receiving yellow pages phone books by signing up on a city-run registry.

Last year, three yellow-pages companies sued to stop the city from forming the opt-out registry, arguing that allowing people not to receive phone books violated the companies' First Amendment free-speech rights. (They also argued that their privately run opt-out registry is an adequate substitute for a city-run program). The city responded by citing court rulings that commercial speech (like advertising, the yellow pages' main revenue source) is less protected than other speech.

In the ruling, US District Judge James Robart writes,

Because Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of their First Amendment claim, because any First Amendment impact on the public is limited, and because the City and its residents have competing public interests in privacy and waste reduction, the court finds that Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that a preliminary injunction is in the public interest.

Robart's ruling means the lawsuit will go forward.