§1420. Deceptive trade practices; telephone directories and databases; penalties

A.(1) No person shall misrepresent the geographical location of a business or a supplier of a service or product by listing a fictitious business name or an assumed business name in the classified advertising section of a telephone directory or other directory database.

(2) A person is considered to have misrepresented the geographical location of a business or supplier of a service or product if any one of the following exists:

(a) The business or supplier is not located within the geographical area covered by the directory and the listing fails to identify the true physical address, including the municipality and state, of the geographical location of the business or supplier.

(b) Calls to a number listed in a directory or database are routinely forwarded or otherwise transferred to a business location that is outside the calling area covered by the directory or database in which the number is listed, and the person has not identified the true physical address of the geographical location of the business or supplier.

(c) The location of the business or supplier is in an area that is not contiguous to an area covered by the directory or database in which the number is listed.

(3) Nothing in this Section shall apply to local telecommunication carrier customers using permissible services, including but not limited to remote call forwarding or foreign exchange.

B. A business or supplier of a service or product may place a directory listing for a business the name of which indicates that it is located in a geographical area that is different from the geographical area in which the business is located if a conspicuous notice in the listing states the municipality and state in which the business is located.

C. No telephone company or other provider of a telephone directory or directory assistance service, or its officers or agents, shall be liable for publishing the listing of a fictitious business name or assumed business name of a business or supplier in its directory or directory assistance database unless the telephone company or other provider of a telephone or directory assistance service is the same person as the business or supplier of services or products who has committed the deceptive act.

D. Any violation of this Section shall be a deceptive and unfair trade practice and shall subject the violator to any and all penalties provided for in this Chapter.

Acts 1999, No. 859, §1.