Microsoft sues over management defection
21 July 2005
Microsoft has announced that it is taking on web giant Google claiming that its rival poached one of its leading executives.
The software giant is reported to have launched a lawsuit against the search company over the defection of Dr Kai-Fu Lee, one of its technology experts and founder of its Asian research division.
Dr Lee quit Microsoft to head Google's first research and development centre in China, but Microsoft claims that his decision violates confidentiality and non-competition agreements signed when the expert joined the company in 1998.
Microsoft is calling for a court ruling requiring Dr Lee to honour his contract, which reportedly includes a clause forbidding him to work for a rival within a year of leaving.
"As a senior executive, Dr Lee has direct knowledge of Microsoft's trade secrets concerning search technologies and China business strategies," the software company said in a statement.
"Creating intellectul property is the essence of what we do at Microsoft, and we have a responsibility to our employees and our shareholders to protect our intellectual property," Microsoft added.
Google has vowed to fight the suit and "fully support" Dr Lee, claiming that Microsoft's claims are "completely without merit".
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