New York-based wedding site operator The Knot Inc., which was delisted by Nasdaq last week, said that it has won a court victory against five Weddingpages franchisees who are attempting to sue over the company's acquisition of Weddingpages Inc.

The Knot, which acquired publisher Weddingpages Inc. in March of last year for $8.5 million in cash, publishes (via Weddingpages) regional wedding magazines in over 40 company-owned and franchised markets in the United States. Weddingpages capitalizes on its ability to match local brides with local wedding professionals.

The Knot said that five Weddingpages franchisees "have refused to execute a settlement reached at the conclusion of court-ordered mediation last winter."

Today the company issued a press release saying that on Aug. 22, Judge Helen Freedman of the Supreme Court, State of New York, "denied the remaining plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief against The Knot, effectively ordered the plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims against Weddingpages, and stayed the action against The Knot pending the completion of such arbitration."

The court held that the plaintiffs would be unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claims against the Knot, the company said.

The Knot, which first launched on America Online in 1996, has not had a profitable quarter since going public in 1998. It lost 68 cents a share for the first two quarters so far this year. Its stock trades at about 25 cents a share on the OTC Bulletin Board.