Yellow pages

Yellow pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, and 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" (and/or any applicable local translations), as well as the "Walking Fingers" logo first 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). However, in the United States, neither the name nor the logo were registered as trademarks by AT&T, and are freely used by several publishers.

The name and concept of "yellow pages" came about in 1883, when a printer in Cheyenne, Wyoming, working on a regular telephone directory ran out of white paper and used yellow paper instead. In 1886, Reuben H. Donnelley created the first official Yellow Pages directory.

Today, the expression yellow pages is used globally, in both English-speaking and non-English speaking countries. In the United States, it refers to the category, while in some other countries it is a registered name and therefore a proper noun. The term Yellow Pages is not a registered name within the United States and is freely used by many companies. Telephone directories using the official internet address "yellowpages.xx" exist in 75 different countries. They are edited by many different phone companies and directory publishers, mostly independent from each other.

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