NEW YORK - Four months ago, a federal judge ruled against a law that required New York City retailers that sell cigarettes to hang graphics of tobacco-related diseases, but many retailers have kept the posters up, the Wall Street Journal reports. The three posters depicting cancerous lungs, rotting teeth and a brain damaged by stroke remain on walls and at registers of many supermarkets, bodegas and convenience stores around the city.

Last March, the city said retailers had to display the posters or be fined up to $2,000. The New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS), along with three tobacco companies, sued and in December, a judge agreed with them that the city had no authority to order the postings.

Many retailers are leery of taking the posters down for fear of fines, although the city??s Law Department confirmed that New York is not enforcing the law. The city appealed the decision.

The city alerted retailers about posting the images, but has not informed them that they could take down the posters. Trade groups have informed their members, but hundreds of retailers still don??t know about the ruling, said James Calvin, NYACS president.

"It is the city??s responsibility to exert as much energy notifying the regulated community that the law was overturned as it did in notifying the community that the signs needed to be put up," Calvin told NBC New York.