Yellow pages

This article is about telephone directories of businesses. For the computer networking protocol, see Network Information Service. For other uses, see Yellow Pages (disambiguation).

Yellow Pages
2004 Yellow Pages for Auckland, New Zealand
ParentVarious (United States), Yell (United Kingdom); Yellow Pages Group (Canada), Directories Philippines Corporation (Philippines)
CategoriesBusiness directory
FrequencyYearly
PublisherVarious (United States), Yell (United Kingdom); Bell Canada (Canada), Directories Philippines Corporation (Philippines)
Founded1886; 138 years ago (1886)
First issue1886
Final issue2019 (United Kingdom)
CountryUnited States
United Kingdom
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Philippines
Based inVarious
LanguageEnglish

The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings. The traditional term "yellow pages" is now also applied to online directories of businesses.

In many countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and elsewhere, "Yellow Pages" (or any applicable local translations), as well as the "Walking Fingers" logo introduced in the 1970s by the Bell System–era AT&T, are registered trademarks, though the owner varies from country to country, usually being held by the main national telephone company (or a subsidiary or spinoff thereof).[1][2] However, in the United States, neither the name nor the logo was registered as trademarks by AT&T, and they are freely used by several publishers.

  1. ^ "Conditions of using our website". Yell.com. Yell Limited (UK). Retrieved 14 October 2012. We (Yell Limited or 'Yell') [...] legally own a wide range of intellectual property rights used in and relating to this website, including [...] the trademarks [...] Yellow Pages [...] and related logos... (Yell Limited is a subsidiary of Hibu, which was spun off from British Telecom.)
  2. ^ "Beware of Fraudulent Participation" (PDF). Yellow Pages Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2012. But there's only one true Yellow Pages directory that carries the Yellow Pages brand and Walking Fingers & Design in Canada. Yellow Pages Group is the exclusive owner of these trademarks in the country. (Yellow Pages Group is a spin-off of Bell Canada.)