UPDATE 1-Rosetta Stone sues Google for patent violation
July 10 (Reuters) - Rosetta Stone Inc (RST.N), a provider of language-learning software, said it filed a lawsuit against Google Inc (GOOG.O) in a U.S. federal court, seeking to prevent the Internet search company from infringing upon its trademarks.
In the lawsuit, the company alleged that Google is allowing third parties, including individuals involved in software piracy operations, to purchase the right to use its trademarks or other terms "confusingly similar" in Google's Adwords advertising program.
"Google's search engine is helping third parties mislead consumers and misappropriate Rosetta Stone trademarks by using them as 'keyword' triggers for paid advertisements and by using them within the text or title of paid advertisements," Rosetta Stone said in a statement.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, it said.
A Google spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
In June 2009, Google changed its policy stating that 'advertisers will be allowed to use trademark terms in their ad text even if they do not own that trademark or have explicit approval from the trademark owner to use it,' Rosetta Stone said.
Rosetta Stone shares were unchanged at $26.10 in morning trade Friday, while Google shares were up 1.3 percent at $415.84 on Nasdaq.
For alerts, double click [ID:nWNAB6187] (Reporting by Mansi Dutta in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
