PORTLAND — A Maine wreath-making company is suing a competitor in a dispute over the design of a miniature tabletop Christmas tree both companies produce.

Morrill Worcester, the owner of Worcester Wreath in Harrington, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Bangor this week against Whitney Originals wreath-making company in Machias.

Worcester accuses Whitney of ripping off the patented design of his miniature tree. The tree is made with a solid foam center that sits in a stand and is adorned with balsam branches and pine cones.

The companies entered an agreement in 2002 following a previous lawsuit that granted Whitney a license to make the tree as long as it didn’t infringe on the distinctive appearance of Worcester’s tree products or cause confusion in the marketplace.

But for this holiday season, Whitney is producing a miniature tree sold by L.L. Bean that “substantially copies” Worcester’s tree, the suit alleges.

Worcester said he was surprised to see the tree in L.L. Bean’s 2010 holiday catalog. At first glance, it looked just like his tree, he said.

“Look at our tree at worcesterwreath.com and look at theirs, and you be the judge,” Worcester said.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and a permanent injunction prohibiting Whitney from making trees that infringe upon Worcester’s patented design.

Whitney’s attorney, James Haddow of Portland, said Whitney has been careful to make sure its tree isn’t identical to Worcester’s line of miniature trees.

“The nuances of similarity are going to be the subject of the lawsuit when it’s all done,” Haddow said. “But Whitney Originals has been very careful to make sure its trees aren’t identical to the Worcester trees, that there were substantial differences to the decorations, which is all that’s at issue here.”

The lawsuit shines a light on Maine’s lucrative and competitive wreath-making industry. Numerous companies throughout the state, of which Whitney and Worcester are among the largest, turn out millions of wreaths, miniature trees and other balsam products each holiday season.

Whitney calls itself Maine’s largest wreath-making company. It also produces wreaths for L.L. Bean, the Maine-based outdoor goods and clothing company.

Worcester, who said he produces between 350,000 and 375,000 wreaths a year, is well-known for sending thousands of wreaths each year to Arlington National Cemetery to honor veterans. His company produced hundreds of thousands of wreaths each year for L.L. Bean, but Bean ended the business relationship after the 2008 holiday season.

David Whitney, the owner of Whitney Originals, said he believes his company is the largest wreath manufacturer in Maine.

His company last year won the contract to provide L.L. Bean with its wreaths and other balsam products.

“This is the first year Whitney’s trees have appeared in the L.L. Bean catalog,” Haddow said. “You can infer what you want about the timing of the lawsuit.”

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