Little Trees

For other uses, see Little tree (disambiguation).
Little Trees hanging from rear view mirror.

Little Trees are the iconic air fresheners in the shape of a stylized evergreen tree, marketed for use in cars. They are made of a specially formulated absorbent material produced in a variety of colors and scents. They are most commonly seen hanging from rear-view mirrors of vehicles.

These air fresheners were invented in 1952 in Watertown, New York by a German-Jewish immigrant and businessman Julius Sämann.[1] They are manufactured in the US by the CAR-FRESHNER Corporation. A handful of companies in Europe produce Little Trees under license from Julius Sämann Ltd. using the names Wunder-Baum (Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Romania) and Arbre Magique (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal).[2]

CAR-FRESHNER operates factories in Watertown, New York and DeWitt, Iowa.

The Trees are feature prominently in movies and TV shows. The Fisher King, Seven, and Repo Man.[3] to name a few. In Sweden the Wunder-Baum brand is sometimes associated with the raggare culture.

The Trees are mentioned by Mike D in the Beastie Boys song, "Slow Ride" ("I got the trees in my mirror/So my car won't smell").

Trademark

CAR-FRESHNER fiercely defends its trademark on the tree-shaped air freshener design, and in recent years has filed several lawsuits[4] against makers of lookalike products, and against companies that use their products in other commercial media.

In 2002, CAR-FRESHNER sued Rite Way Wholesale and Distributors, Inc. of New York for importing and distributing a "vanilla-scented tree shaped air fresheners with a patriotic design". As a result of the judgement, the defendants were required to surrender their entire inventory to the plaintiffs for destruction, and were required to pay an unspecified penalty.[5]

In 2006, they sued Dale Detwiler (owner of the Austin-based Corndog Cards & Novelties) after Detwiler company produced holiday greeting cards that bore a glow-in-the-dark image of a scratch-and-sniff tree-shaped air freshener.[6]

In 2006, they won a suit against UK-based Tetrosyl Ltd for producing a tree-shaped air freshener that "included snow, flashing lights, the shape of a tub at the bottom".[7][8]

In 2009, they sued Getty Images for unauthorized use of its tree-shaped air fresheners in a series of stock photographs.[9][10]

Julius Sämann Ltd filed a complaint with the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) against Bulgarian [11] air-freshener manufacturer Balev Eood for producing an aircraft-shaped air freshener which was somewhat similar in shape to their trademarked fir tree shape. NIPO rejected the complaint, and the Board of Appeal upheld the decision in January 2011.[12]

In 2011, Car-Freshner sued Beck & Call for producing a similar line of tree-shaped promotional air fresheners.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Little Trees Europe" (Shockwave flash). Retrieved 2006-05-13.
  2. ↑ O'Connor, Deb (August 2005), "Little Trees: An American icon born and raised in Watertown" (PDF), Absolutely Business, pp. 18–23, retrieved 29 Sep 2011
  3. ↑ Moos, Jeanne (1996-01-31). "How's your car's fashion 'scents'?". CNN. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
  4. ↑ "Dockets & Filings - Julius Samann". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  5. ↑ "Oblon, Spivak Logs A Court Victory For Car-Freshner's "Little Trees"; Counterfeit Air Freshener Trees Turned Over For Destruction". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  6. ↑ "If a Tree Falls on a Corndog ... Austin novelty card company gets crushed by lawyers and money". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  7. ↑ "High Court Grants Breathing Space to Tree-Shaped Air Fresheners". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  8. ↑ "Judgement in the case of Julius Sämann v. Tetrosyl ltd" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  9. ↑ "Something Smells Off: Getty Images Sued Over Silhouette of Air Freshener". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  10. ↑ "Makers of Pine-Tree Deodorizers Allowed to Proceed With Lawsuit Against Getty Images". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  11. ↑ "AREON BULGARIA LTD - Perfumery and cosmetics". Kras.net. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  12. ↑ "Court rules in air freshener case". Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  13. ↑ "CAR-FRESHNER CORPORATION and JULIUS SÄMANN LTD. vs. STANISLAWSKI MARKETINGVENTURES, LLC, D/B/A BECK & CALL". Retrieved 2011-11-22.

External links

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