Rosetta Stone v. Google

Rosetta Stone sued Google for allowing its competitors to buy ads that appeared when people search for “Rosetta Stone”. The lawsuit was based upon trademark infringement.

At trial in the Eastern District of Virginia, Google had the lawsuit thrown out. Today, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based out of Richmond, reinstated part of the lawsuit, allowing Rosetta Stone to have their day in court. The evidence produced in discovery showed the makers of counterfeit software were buying ads that appeared when people searched for Rosetta Stone and then selling fake language software.

This case will have a huge impact on online advertising. The full text of the case can be read here: http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/dailyopinions/opinion.pdf/102007.P.pdf