Risk: Informational
The search giant sits accused of poaching a top Microsoft executive to run its newly expanded Chinese operation.
Opening a new chapter in its rivalry with Google, Microsoft sued the search giant and a former Microsoft executive who has been tapped by Google to run its China operations.
The suit was filed in a Washington state court against Google and Kai-Fu Lee, who until recently was the corporate vice-president of Microsoft's Interactive Services Division.
Google said earlier that Lee was joining the company and would head up a new research effort in China.
"Accepting such a position with a direct Microsoft competitor like Google violates the narrow non-competition promise Lee made when he was hired as an executive," Microsoft said in its lawsuit, which was seen by ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com. "Google is fully aware of Lee's promises to Microsoft, but has chosen to ignore them, and has encouraged Lee to violate them."
In the suit, Microsoft seeks monetary damages as well as an injunction upholding the non-compete clause and other provisions of Lee's contract, including terms barring him from sharing Microsoft trade secrets.
Google has emerged as a top rival for Microsoft, and several notable employees have left the software giant for Google in recent months. The company is seen as an aggressive rival to Microsoft in areas such as desktop search and email. In addition, its services work well with any operating system.
Google issued a press release on Lee's hiring and announced plans to open a China research and development centre this quarter.
"Under the leadership of Dr. Lee, with his proven track record of innovation and his passion for technology and research, the Google China R&D centre will enable us to develop more innovative products and technologies for millions of users in China and around the world," Alan Eustace, Google engineering vice-president, said in a statement.
Lee, an expert in speech recognition technology, founded Microsoft's China research lab in the late 1990s and worked at Silicon Graphics and Apple before joining Microsoft.
A Microsoft lawyer said in an interview that Lee's move to join Google was a "particularly egregious" violation of the non-compete agreement that he had signed when he joined Microsoft.
"He has access to sensitive information, to trade secrets about our search technology and business plans and our China business strategies," Deputy General Counsel Tom Burt said. "He has accepted a position in direct competition with Microsoft in those areas."
Lee had been working most recently at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters, focusing on new search technologies. According to the lawsuit, for a time Lee had been the person "responsible for overall development of the MSN Internet search application." He also served as a member of a company advisory board that focused on China-related strategies, a post that, according to the suit, gave him access to the company's business strategy and planned expansion targets.