NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (AP) – Converse will share sales revenue from shoes bearing the colors and founding dates of black fraternities and sororities to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Greek organizations, Converse and the groups said Friday.

The organizations will drop the lawsuit they filed in federal court in Dallas in 2003, and North Andover-based Converse will pay the fraternities and sororities a percentage of revenue on each product sold bearing the trademarks of the organizations. Additional financial details of the multiyear licensing agreement were not disclosed. Converse also will offer summer internships beginning in June to graduate-level college and university students in areas including finance and marketing.

“This is an example of how a disagreement can be channeled into cooperation,” said Samuel Hamilton, chief executive of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and chairman of The Council of Presidents, which comprises the leadership of historic black fraternities and sororities, six of which filed the lawsuit. “It is in our mutual interests to develop licensed products that our members will want to support while also providing training to some of our future business executives.”

Converse had previously said the organization’s traditional colors and founding years were not trademarked.

But the fraternities and sororities, which date to the early 1900s, contended those marks are recognized as belonging to the fraternity or sorority, and should be protected by law even without trademark registration.

A Dallas-based federal judge had dismissed the lawsuit. But last spring the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned part of the ruling and returned the case to court.

The organizations taking part in the settlement represent more than 1.8 million members worldwide.

The fraternities are Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Iota Phi Theta. The sororities are Alpha Kappa Alpha, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho.

Jack Boys, CEO of the Converse brand owned by Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike Inc., said, “We look forward to a long-term relationship to further support the fraternities’ and sororities’ rich heritage through the brand’s dedication to originality and brand democracy.”