Camden Council were back in court yesterday in their bid to have permanent Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) issued against four employees of ambient marketing firm Diabolical Liberties for their involvement in the sinister-evil-and-occasionally-life-threatening pursuit of flyposting.
As previously reported at length, Camden Council began its new campaign against the use of flyposting, especially in the music sector, last year by threatening to issue ASBOs against any marketing executive who sanction a flyposting campaign. An ASBO essentially acts as a 'final warning' - once issued if those execs are found to be involved in a flyposting campaign in the
Camden area they face immediate fines and a possible prison sentence.
Most of the record labels, gig promoters and media companies whose employees were targeted by an ASBO quickly committed to stop using flyposting as part of their marketing mix. However Diabolical
Liberties, the London based ambient marketing firm who have coordinated flyposting activity for many music companies over the years, let the matter go to court arguing flyposting did not constitute 'anti-social behaviour' in the eyes of the law.
Last year the courts initially sided with the council and issue a temporary Order forbidding four of Diabolical Liberties' employees from being involved in anyway in flyposting in Camden. Those four employees were back in court yesterday where the Council were aiming to have those Orders made permanent.
As it happened three of the four Orders were dropped because of changing circumstances since the last court case. Two of the employees, James Heighway and Dominic Murphy, had left Diabolical
Liberties to set up their own agency, while a third, Anna McAree, was now working in a purely administrative role, so the courts agreed ASBOs were no longer required against them.
Which means all eyes are now on Diabolical Liberties MD Tim Horrox who, presumably keen to clear the way for his company to continue coordinating flyposting activity in North London, continues to allege that that the council is misusing anti-social behaviour laws in the flyposting debate. Highbury Corner Magistrates Court will again consider that argument today.
Outside the court Heighway and Murphy took the opportunity to blatantly plug their new business. "This episode has put us both under considerable strain and stress and we are glad to put it behind us and move on to future challenges. Both of us resigned from Diabolical Liberties early last year and have since set up Brotherhood Media Ltd, an independent media agency offering creative alternatives to flyposting. In its first four months
Brotherhood Media Ltd worked with many major and independent record labels delivering effective campaigns both in London and across the country." So now you know.