Dex One Corp., SuperMedia and the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) today filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to challenge a Seattle phone book ordinance on the grounds that it restricts publishers' fundamental right to free speech.

The complaint, filed by lead attorneys David Burman and Kathleen O'Sullivan of Seattle-based Perkins Coie, LLP, asserts that the ordinance enacted last month violates the First Amendment, which prohibits government from licensing or exercising advance approval of the press, from directing publishers what to publish and to whom they may communicate, and from assessing fees for the privilege of publishing. The suit also claims that the Seattle ordinance unlawfully interferes with interstate commerce and violates the privacy rights of Seattle residents.

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