Close to a dozen small business owners found guilty of violating Quebec's sign laws have been granted leave to challenge the decision before the provincial Court of Appeal.

Last year, A Quebec Court judge fined 23 businesses for having English-only websites, English-only packaging and English-only signs between 1998 and 2001.

In handing down that decision, Judge Salvatore Mascia upheld a 1988 Supreme Court ruling that French must be the predominant language on commercial signs and advertising.

Mascia said the French language remained vulnerable in the province, and thus the provisions of Bill 101 were still necessary.

Lawyer Charles O'Brien took the business owners' case to the Superior Court, but their arguments were rejected in April.

In seeking leave to appeal at Quebec's highest court Friday, O'Brien said that Quebec's sign laws are not just unconstitutional but outdated, as well.

O'Brien said he intends to argue before the appellate court that the vulnerability of the French language must be re-evaluated.

"In this case, we brought factual evidence about the current demographic situation of French in Quebec," he told reporters in Montreal.

"Our view is that you cannot interpret [it] as being currently vulnerable. There's no threat of extinction of the French language right now."

Of the 23 businesses fined last year, only 11 of them have signed on for the appeal.

A date has not yet been set for the case to be heard.