Not a good day to be in the wallpaper paste business. Quite a good day to work in local authority litigation. After years of dealing with legislation loop holes that made it more or less impossible to prosecute companies that fly posted, the decision of North London local authority Camden Council to tackle the 'fly posting problem' by extending the remit of the 'Anti Social Behaviour Order' system looks like it might just work.
As previously reported, Camden Council issued Anti Social Behaviour Orders on marketing executives at both Sony and BMG. They hoped to get injunctions against those execs that meant that if they ever were involved with a fly posting campaign they would be personally liable to fines or even a prison sentence.
In response to that action Sony yesterday said it would no longer use fly posting campaigns in the marketing of its music. The Council subsequently withdrew their action against Sony marketing execs Catherine Davies and Jo Headland at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court.
Commenting on Sony's decision, Camden Council's Head of Litigation, Richard Gruet, told reporters: "Anti-social behaviour is anti-social behaviour, whoever engages in it. We have won an undertaking from Sony to the effect that they will not engage in fly posting any more in this country. We welcome that. But I think it is a little unfortunate that BMG, who were given the opportunity to do the same undertaking in the same terms, have not done so - that gives us little choice but to pursue them in the courts very shortly."
With flyposting said to have all but stopped in Camden since the Council's legal action, Gruet says other UK local authorities, including Islington, Hastings and Greater Manchester councils, have all said they may pursue similar action.
Which makes BMG's pending response all the more interesting. It is not a foregone conclusion that the courts would agree with Camden's assumption that fly posting - on the grounds that it harms the local environment and can be linked to crime - is, in fact, 'anti social behaviour'. If a court was to rule against the Council then the approach, and no doubt Sony's commitment to not fly post, would both come to an end. However if courts back the Council, or if BMG follow Sony in making a pre-court pledge so that the approach remains untested, then fly posting might actually become a thing of the past.