THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Trees as in those things you hang from your mirror to cover the stink of your old jalopy. The makers of the pine tree shaped deodorizer are suing the makers a the palm tree shaped deodorizer because of packaging.

Car-Freshner sells Little Trees in a cellophane package topped with a yellow card emblazoned with a green tree logo and the product name written in an upward-slanting direction. Its fragrance varieties include “Morning Fresh,” which is a pink tree; “New Car,” which is blue; and a vanilla tree with an American flag pattern on it.

Exotica also sells its tree-shaped fresheners in a cellophane package topped with a yellow card emblazoned with a green tree logo and the product name written in an upward-slanting direction. Its fragrance varieties also include “Morning Fresh,” which is a pink tree; “New Car,” which is blue; and, yes, a vanilla tree with an American flag pattern on it.

Therein lies the trademark-infringement case brought by Car-Freshner. It alleges that Exotica’s products are “likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception as to the source” of the product, and to “falsely mislead consumers into believing” that the products are “affiliated or connected with or are approved by” Car-Freshner.

For they are not. Not at all.

A lawyer for Car-Freshner, Jonathan Z. King, told the eight jurors in his opening statement: “Those similarities are no accident. They’re a matter of design.”

He also suggested that Exotica’s fresheners were inferior and that their presence weakened Car-Freshner’s brand.

A lawyer for Exotica, David Antonucci, told the jurors that while there might be resemblances, they were superficial, and that Car-Freshner had no proof that any consumers had been deceived.

Here is a comparison image, you see if you are confused. This is not the first time they have battled in court for their right to smell up your car.