An attempt by Modern Luxury Hawaii magazine to woo advertisers from Honolulu magazine has spawned a lawsuit alleging the newer glossy magazine committed copyright infringement and painted a false picture of Honolulu magazine.

PacificBasin Communications LLC, publisher of Honolulu, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court last week against Los Angeles-based Modern Luxury Media LLC, which entered the Hawai'i market in the past two years with an upscale magazine targeting the wealthy.

The dispute arises from an alleged e-mail and four-page letter and attachments sent by Modern Luxury Hawaii that pitched to advertisers by saying the quarterly oversized magazine had more benefits for luxury or fashion brands than did Honolulu.

In doing so, PacificBasin's lawsuit alleges, Modern Luxury used copies of pages from Honolulu magazine and that it disparaged Honolulu's reputation by claiming the magazine was "almost specifically 'anti-luxury.' "

Modern Luxury attorney Robert Welsh, a partner in the Century City office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, would not comment on the lawsuit until he had a chance to review the case.

PacificBasin is asking that Modern Luxury pay monetary damages as well as approach e-mail and letter recipients to ask that they return the material because of copyright violations.