Alaska ? The custody battle over Carl the Cat is going to trial.

People on both sides of a lawsuit filed last year say all efforts to resolve ownership of the big orange tabby have failed and a trial date has been set for Sept. 10 in Palmer Superior Court.

One of the combatants tussling over Carl, a 6-year-old stray found as a kitten in 2000, is Catherine Fosselman. She says she got legal title to Carl last year when she bought out her partner in a Mat-Su accounting firm. Carl lived at the office and thus is part of the property she bought, she said in court filings.

On the other side is Staci Fieser. She used to work at the accounting office. She took Carl home after a fire in February 2006 and has cared for him ever since. Her husband, Jason, is an Alaska state trooper who has since been transferred to Dillingham, where Carl now lives with the Fiesers. They say they have no intention of giving him up.