Rosetta Stone Inc, the company providing the "leading language-learning software" said it filed a lawsuit against Google in a U.S. federal court. The reason??? Trademark infringement.

Rosetta Stone alleges that Google is allowing 3rd parties to purchase the right to use its trademarks in Google's Adwords advertising programs. The 3rd parties being allowed to use such words are alleged to include individuals involved in software piracy and the like.

Michael Wu, Rosetta Stone's General Counsel said "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." 

Google spokesman Andrew Pederson said that Google allows trademarks to be used as keyword triggers because it benefits the users, in terms of being able to choose from a variety of cometing advertisers.

In an email, Pederson said "Just as it's reasonable to expect a range of brands on any shelf in a grocery store, providing users on Google with more than one option when they search for a brand name or other trademark helps them to find the best product at the lowest price." 

Hm. I can see thier point there.

However, Rosetta Stone also said that last month, Google changed its policy... the new policy states "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."

Shady, shady, Google!