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Rosetta Stone and Google settle trademark lawsuit

(Reuters) - Language-software maker Rosetta Stone Inc has agreed to drop its trademark infringement lawsuit against Google Inc over the search engine'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.

In the lawsuit filed in 2009, Rosetta Stone accused Google of committing trademark infringement by selling the language-software maker's trademarks to third-party advertisers for use as search keywords. Rosetta Stone argued that people searching for its products on Google were being redirected to competitors and software counterfeiters.

A Virginia district court had dismissed the case in 2010, finding that the sale of the keywords was not likely to confuse consumers. But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 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 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.

The case is Rosetta Stone Ltd v. Google Inc, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, No. 09-736.

(Reporting By Terry Baynes in New York; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

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