Executives at the music giant Sony yesterday promised not to commission illegal poster campaigns after being threatened with legal action normally used to tackle unruly teenagers.
Two executives faced the prospect of having anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) imposed on them as part of Camden council's drive against flyposting, which it says is blighting parts of the north London borough.
The executives, Jo Headland, Sony's UK marketing director, and Catherine Davies, the managing director of its UK repertoire division, gave an undertaking not to order flyposting.
The council, which claims the company saves millions of pounds every year in advertising by flyposting, hailed the development as a victory. It said similar actions could follow across England and Wales.
A second action against another music company, BMG, stalled because the council had targeted a woman who was only with the company on work placement and is leaving next week.
However, Camden insisted that it would pursue BMG. It said it was also "looking actively" at another 50 companies and organisations that had been flyposting in the borough.
Because of Camden's reputation as a neighbourhood with a vibrant nightlife, it has been a particular target for illegal poster campaigns, especially those advertising new albums and music events.
Camden estimates that flyposting saves Sony, whose artists include Beyoncé Knowles and George Michael, £3m a year, and BMG, which has Dido and Avril Lavigne on its books, more than £5m. Meanwhile, removing the posters from telephone boxes, shop hoardings and postboxes costs the borough £250,000 a year.
Last week, lawyers for Sony wrote to Camden promising: "Each of our clients will undertake ... not to knowingly commission, instruct, procure or arrange ... to erect posters" contrary to planning and highway laws.
Andrew Glennie, for Camden, told Highbury Corner magistrates court yesterday that in the light of the agreement with Sony, it was appropriate to withdraw the summons against the company.
The court also heard that because the person targeted by the council at BMG, Lucy Handford, was leaving next week, the summons against her should also be withdrawn.
Outside the court, Richard Gruet, the head of litigation at Camden, said: "We have won an undertaking from Sony to the effect that they will not engage in flyposting any more in this country."
He said the Asbo process - which could have resulted in the executives being jailed for five years - could be reactivated if the council or any authority in England and Wales found posters which it believed could be traced to Sony.
Mr Gruet said naming individual executives was a legitimate tactic. "Anti-social behaviour is anti-social behaviour, whoever engages in it. If anybody indulges in it they should not think that just because they are rich and live in a nice house they are immune to prosecution."
Pete Strange, the boulevard project manager at the council, said there had been a noticeable decrease in the number of illegal entertainment industry posters being put up.
A number of councils, including Greater Manchester, Hastings in Sussex and Islington in north London, have contacted Camden to seek advice about the tactic.
As well as chasing BMG, Camden is planning to tackle political parties and pressure and community groups which use flyposting.
