TELEPHONE BOOK EXPLOSION GENERATES $9.5 BILLION

Above are just a few of Southwestern Bell's Yellow Pages.

For years, only Ma Bell's fingers did the walking. But, with the divestiture of the telephone industry in 1984, new competing companies ran -- not walked -- to cash in on the lucrative business of selling yellow-page ads for annual telephone directories.

Yellow-page publishers share in a $9.5 billion business. That figure is more than three times the $2.9 billion industry more than a decade ago, in 1980.

The result for many businesses has been confusion. Another result has been the cropping up of some "bogus" yellow-page companies and "scammers."

It didn't take long for new yellow-page publishers to learn that the "walking fingers" logo found on the covers of Bell directories wasn't a registered trademark.

The fingers were introduced by AT&T in 1963, and the symbol quickly became one of the most widely recognized advertising symbols in the world, with the advertising tag line "let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages."

While many may associate the symbol with Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages Inc., a trademark was never obtained for it, and the walking-fingers logo can be -- and is -- used throughout the yellow pages industry.

Therein lies the reason for confusion.

"For years, there has been a lot of confusion over Yellow Pages solicitations," said Don Fisher, public relations specialist for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages. "Because the solicitations typically use the familiar walking-fingers symbol, some people assume they are from Southwestern Bell."

Fisher said Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages receives many calls and letters from customers throughout its five-state territory who are confused over the identity of companies mailing out the solicitations.

"In some cases, businesses have remitted payment to other companies for what they thought was Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages advertising," he said.

More than a year ago, Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages adopted a trademark of its own in a move designed to help people more easily distinguish its pages from those of other companies.

The St. Louis-based company replaced the walking-fingers on directory covers with the new "Swbyp's (pronounced swah-bips) logo, dropping the walking fingers symbol.

"The new logo identifies us from other legitimate publishers as well as those who may prey on customer confusion," Fisher said. "If customers see the walking fingers on the cover, or solicitation, they know it is not ours."

The majority of directory publishers purchase their white-page listings from various Bell companies. Available are a number of white-page lists, from up-to-date lists to those that are 2 and 3 years old. Rates vary on the list depending on the list purchased.

More than 400 directory publishers, including Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, are members of the National Yellow Pages Publishers Association, headquartered in Detroit.

"More than half of those members are publishers and sellers of yellow pages," said Jill Denman of the Yellow Pages organization.

"There are other publishers in the U.S., but Yellow Page Association members produce 95 percent of the telephone directories and yellow pages."

There have always been independent telephone directory publishers, but after the divestiture of the telephone industry a decade ago, more entered the field.

Along with the increased interest are the "bogus" companies and "scammers," Denman said.

"These people go into the markets the same time the legitimates go in, work their bogus schemes and run," she said. "This is widespread and creates problems for the legitimate companies."

One of the things to watch carefully is the yellow pages solicitation form. Most forms will have the walking-fingers logo and the term, "Yellow Pages," but these aren't trademarks and anyone can use them, Denman said.

Customers should examine the mailing to determine if it is a solicitation or an invoice. Solicitations that resemble bills should include a required disclaimer, such as: "This is not a bill. This is a solicitation."

But in most cases, the mailing will also include an amount, with a message to "pay this amount," Denman said.

Some people who receive these solicitations assume they are from their Yellow Page publisher, and submit the amount.

"Some bogus publishers may even publish a directory," she said. "And, that makes it legal."

If the publisher prints a book, sends it to some libraries in the area and to a few accounts it is technically legal. "These publishers do not guarantee how many books will be printed," Denman said.