By Michael Armstrong

Homer Independent Press

The Homer Chamber of Commerce can continue to distribute its 2026 visitor guides while a lawsuit alleging unauthorized use of a Land’s End Resort photograph in an advertisement  proceeds. At a court hearing March 26,  Homer Superior Court Judge Bride Seifert postponed action on  a preliminary injunction sought by Land’s End to stop distribution of the 50,000 visitor guides.

As Seifert considered motions filed by the parties, she suggested another option: mediation.

“We all want, the chamber wants to support business. I know Land’s End wants to support business. I’m sure AKRE wants to support business,” she said. “… So I’m wondering if there has been a concerted effort yet that to actually have this thing mediated by someone that is like, let’s get to it, and go at it.”

Seifert denied a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop distribution immediately. She  continued the hearing to 9 a.m. April 9 at the Homer Courthouse. Rebecca Hozubin, the lawyer for one of the co-defendants, Jim Anderson, had filed a motion on March 25 to continue the March 26 hearing because she only had been retained as counsel that day.

Two weeks ago, Land’s End co-owner Jon Faulkner sued the Homer Chamber of Commerce and a major new player in the local tourism scene, Lakeshore Lodging and AKRE Holdings, to block distribution of the chamber’s  glossy 92-page visitor guide.


At issue is unauthorized use of an “iconic” photograph of the Land’s End condominiums in a Lakeshore Lodging advertisement in the guide. Also named in the lawsuit is Lakeshore general manager Jim Anderson, who is also the chamber’s vice president.

 

During the hearing, Faulkner raised the issue of the balance of harm that might be done to Land’s End against the cost of reprinting the 2026 visitor guide. Faulkner said the chamber told him it would cost $50,000 to reprint 50,000 copies. 

“Okay, we’re going to use that up in attorney’s fees between now and the ninth,” Faulkner said. “It’s ridiculous, a misallocation of resources, in my opinion.”

Seifert asked how easy it would be to fix the guide without reprinting. Chamber Executive Director Brad Anderson said they couldn’t remove the Lakeshore Lodging page  because it would harm the four businesses with ads on the other side of that page.

Seifert seized on that point. “Frankly, if it only costs 50 grand — sorry, I don’t, $50,000 is a lot of money, but not in the world of money that comes into Homer through tourists every summer,” she said. “And so I would encourage people to sort of look into that if it can be done easily.”

The judge raised the possibility of the parties sharing costs of a reprint until a decision is issued, “but that would be appropriate for negotiating,” she said.

Last week’s hearing did have a bright spot: An electronic version of the visitor guide will have the Land’s End Lodges photo removed from the Lakeshore Lodging ad, Hozubin, Jim Anderson’s lawyer, said at the hearing. 

“And assuming that all goes well, when the electronic version is ready to go, it should be changed, and there should be no issue with the electronic version,” Hozubin said.

Brad Anderson said the electronic version hadn’t yet been completed as hyperlinks and other features needed to be added.

Mark Combs, the lawyer representing the chamber, raised a  motion to dismiss the case, saying  it should be tried in federal court. Combs claimed using an image without permission is a U.S. copyright issue and thus a federal matter.

“I know plaintiff’s attorney stated that he did not, there is not an explicit copyright claim. That it’s our point, that this essentially is a copyright claim, and that the complaint was artfully pled in a way to circumvent that federal preemption,” Combs said.

Faulkner doesn’t claim copyright infringement, however. Among other things, he claims that the “defendants effectively stole intellectual property and trade secrets, in violation of the Alaska Uniform Trade Secrets.”

When asked by Seifert if Land’s End had copyright to the image, Faulkner’s lawyer, Michael Hough said, “No. I don’t think so.”

Seifert has yet to rule on the motion to dismiss the case from state court.