By Terry Baynes
Oct 31 (Reuters) - Language-software maker Rosetta Stone Inc
has agreed to drop its trademark infringement lawsuit against
Google Inc over the search engine company's advertising
practices.
The companies agreed to settle all claims and dismiss the
suit, according to a filing on Wednesday in U.S. District Court
in Alexandria, Virginia. The terms of the settlement were not
specified.
The case tested whether Google's sale of other companies'
trademarks for sponsored links could give rise to liability for
trademark infringement.
"Rosetta Stone Inc and Google have agreed to dismiss the
three-year-old trademark infringement lawsuit between them and
to meaningfully collaborate to combat online ads for counterfeit
goods and prevent the misuse and abuse of trademarks on the
Internet," the companies announced in a joint statement on
Wednesday.
In the lawsuit filed in 2009, Rosetta Stone accused Google
of committing trademark infringement by selling its trademarks
to third-party advertisers for use as search keywords. Google
allows advertisers to buy sponsored link ads at the top of
search result pages.
Rosetta Stone argued that people searching for its products
on Google were being redirected to competitors and software
counterfeiters.
A federal court in Virginia had dismissed the case in 2010,
finding that the sale of the keywords was not likely to confuse
consumers. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in
Richmond, Virginia, revived the bulk of the suit in April,
allowing Rosetta Stone to pursue claims that Google committed
trademark infringement and diluted the Rosetta Stone brand.
Rosetta Stone had presented testimony of consumers who
purchased bogus Rosetta Stone software from sponsored links on
Google that they mistook for the genuine brand.
The 4th Circuit had also cited an internal Google study
finding that even sophisticated consumers were sometimes unaware
that sponsored links were advertisements.
The case is Rosetta Stone Ltd v. Google Inc, U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, No. 09-736.
For Rosetta Stone: Mitchell Ettinger and Jennifer Spaziano
of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
For Google: Jonathan Frieden and Stephen Cobb of Odin,
Feldman & Pittleman; Margret Caruso of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &
Sullivan.
Follow us on Twitter @ReutersLegal | Like us on Facebook