The state’s judge directed an establishment that sells tourist products in Denali National Park to stop selling items that are labeled “made by Alaska” following a complaint by The state of Alaska accused the store of selling fake souvenirs and artwork.
According to an investigation made with the Alaska Department of Law on Thursday in Fairbanks the proprietors of a store known by the names the Himalayan or Mt. McKinley Clothing Company repeatedly attempted to falsely label products from abroad as made in Alaska.
In one instance, the proprietors of the shop told an undercover agent “that an alpaca poncho that depicts the image of a Native American chief in a feather headdress was in keeping with Alaska’s customs.”
The complaint states that “the defendants made false assertion they were a non-profit that was controlled through Yakutat Village Council. Yakutat Village Council and that they had volunteered in the store, that the products made from alpacas were out of Yakutat alpacas and that the items at the store were manufactured by Alaska Natives living in Yakutat and that the proceeds were remitted in the form of a donation to Village Council to be used to support charitable causes, like building schools or the construction of an rehab center.”
Alaska does not have native alpacas, and neither does the Yakutat Village Council does not exist.
Responding to the complaints Superior Court Judge Patricia Haines issued a preliminary injunction and a restraining order in the case of The Himalayan and its owners on Monday.
The order stipulates that the store do not sell items that are advertised as being manufactured in Alaska or manufactured in Alaska by Alaska Native unless the products have been authorized in the eyes of state officials.
The state’s tourism industry recovers following the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, federal and state officials are slamming the brakes on counterfeit Alaska Native art.
In the spring of this year, federal investigators brought charges against the owners of the Ketchikan shop that sold fake Native artwork. At the beginning of the tourist season the Department of Law sent a warning to more than four dozen tourist establishments across the state and warned them not to remove the country of origin labels from souvenirs imported.
Selling a souvenir made in another country as being made in Alaska is in violation of the law of the state as well as if a retailer is falsely claiming that the item was created from someone who is an Alaska Native or someone belonging to an Alaskan Native tribal group, this could be a federal offense too.
In a written response to the restraining orders, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor said “My Office will never accept the fabrication of false claims about products created by Alaska Natives or that profits from sales will be put to charitable causes. We will not allow companies that deceive consumers to gain a competitive advantage over the multitude of great stores that offer genuine products made in Alaska products or Alaska Native products.”
The story was originally published in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
