ATLANTA — A federal appeals court has ruled that Georgia’s obscenity law unconstitutionally limits the free-speech rights of businesses to advertise.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker alerted Gov. Sonny Perdue about the decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit brought by a Smyrna tobacco accessory shop that also has sold sex toys.

The store filed suit in U.S. District Court after Cobb County granted business licenses and permits, but threatened to prosecute the store for violating the obscenity law.

Baker notified Perdue of the Feb. 15 ruling this week in a hand-delivered letter that also went to leading legislators.

The three-judge panel’s ruling in This That and the Other Gift v. Cobb County could limit the ability of governments to prosecute stores that sell adult videos and sex-related materials. Unless the court agrees to clarify its ruling, the next likely step is for the Legislature to change the law.

Some experts said that the ruling does not strike down the entire obscenity law — just the part that bans the advertising of sex toys.

Under the law, sex toys are prohibited unless they are purchased by college students or faculty for a sexuality class, or unless they are prescribed by a doctor.

“The problem with the law is that it made it illegal to advertise about sex toys to anybody,” said Professor Lynn Hogue, who teaches constitutional law at Georgia State University.

Alan Begner, a lawyer who represents several adult video stores, acknowledged that effects of the ruling could be short-lived.

“I expect the Legislature will pass a new law in about 30 minutes,” Begner said.