Google wins first tussle over ex-Microsoft employee

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 14 Sep 2005 at 12:55

A US judge has cleared the way for ex-Microsoft employee Dr Kai-Fu Lee to join Google in China.

However Judge Steven Gonzalez placed strict restrictions on the use of the confidential information that Dr Lee acquired while working for his former employer. He ruled that Dr Kai-Fu Lee had misled Microsoft and used some of that information when he first joined Google.

The prohibitions apply to work relating to search, natural language processing and speech recognition and were accepted by Google ahead of the ruling.

Dr Lee will now travel to China where he will begin looking for a suitable Beijing or Shanghai location for an R&D facility.

Naturally, both parties are claiming a victory, although a final decision will not be made until a full court hearing in January.

Microsoft said that as a result of the ruling, Google would be unable to get much work out of Dr Lee in return for his $10mn salary.

'Dr Lee has been reduced to the highest-paid HR manager in history,' said Tom Burt, Microsoft's deputy general counsel for litigation.

However Nicole Wong, associate general counsel for Google, said the ruling, despite some restrictions, allows Dr Lee to do what the company employed him for.

'We're thrilled, and he's excited to get right to work on several big things, including recruiting, building our Chinese R&D centre, and related government relations,' she said.

The case has highlighted an apparent deep animosity towards Google among Microsoft executives. CEO Steve Ballmer is alleged to have thrown a chair across the room when he heard that another employee was heading to Google, which he vowed to 'kill'. Ballmer denies that this occurred.

The Washington Post reports that Ballmer had a similar attitude to Lee's departure.

Dr Lee's affidavit says that he had several top-level meetings before he left Microsoft where he was warned that legal action would be taken.

Lee alleges that Microsoft president Bill Gates said that Ballmer would definitely act, adding that, 'He has been looking for something just like this.' He also claims that Ballmer made the target very clear.

'When we do something, please don't take it personally,' he is alleged to have said, 'We like you. Your contributions to Microsoft have been immense. It's not you we are after, it is Google.'