Washington ? Operators of the national do-not-call list are moving to prevent people from adding new numbers to the registry because of a convoluted legal battle that could stretch into next year, regulators said Tuesday.

People with numbers already registered likely will see a decrease in some telemarketing calls beginning today — the original deadline for blocking telemarketing calls to the more than 50 million phone numbers in the registry — but regulators concede that the protection is increasingly uncertain.

“We shut down everything to do with the registry already except the sign-up mechanism and we are in the process of trying to figure out how we do that,” Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris said.

For now, the Kansas do-not-call list remains in effect, Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline said. Kline said a Shawnee County District Court Judge upheld the validity of the law Tuesday by issuing an order banning a telemarketer, Branson Bound, for not cooperating with a state no-call investigation.

“While no-call enforcement may be stayed on the federal level, all telemarketers should be put on notice that the Kansas No-Call Act remains in effect, and it will be vigorously enforced by my Consumer Protection Division,” Kline said Tuesday. “It is not open season on Kansas consumers.”

In the last week, the bewildering battle between the federal government and telemarketers has involved two federal judges, an appeals court, both houses of Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court and two federal agencies.

After a federal judge blocked the FTC from enforcing the registry, the Federal Communications Commission stepped in to enforce the list, promising to penalize telemarketers who call the numbers in the registry. Telemarketers who call listed numbers could face FCC fines of up to $120,000.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell said Tuesday that people could file complaints by visiting his agency’s Web site, www.fcc.gov, or calling (888) 225-5322.