Text 6155, 64 rader
Skriven 2005-07-19 19:33:20 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
Ärende: Microsoft vs Google - the fight over China operations
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From: "Rich Gauszka" <gauszka@hotmail.com>



http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7c7156d0-f88f-11d9-8fc8-00000e2511c8.html

The escalating rivalry between Microsoft and Google erupted on Tuesday as the
software giant sued to prevent one of its top engineers from defecting to run
the search engine company's new China operations.

Kai-Fu Lee, who had been in charge of Microsoft's Beijing research and
development centre before moving to head office in Redmond, wason Tuesday named
president of Google's China business and the first head of its planned R&D
centre in thecountry.

Microsoft said it had filed lawsuits against both Google and Mr Lee to force
him to honour confidentiality and non-competition agreements he had signed with
the software company.

The agreements, which are signed by all new Microsoft employees, are designed
to prevent workers from moving to a direct competitor for a year after leaving
the company, or hiring other Microsoft employees or disclosing the company's
trade secrets.

Tom Burt, deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said the company often reached
agreements with former employees that let them work for a competitor in a
position that did not overlap directly with their former responsibilities, but
Mr Lee, who resigned onMonday, did not try to negotiate this kind of release.

The fight over Mr Lee threatens to mar one of Google's most important
international initiatives.

Its Chinese R&D centre, due to open later this year, will give Google a
toe-hold in a country that already accounts for one of the world's largest
internet populations.

Hiring a leading Chinese expert to build a team of local engineers was
yesterday billed a sign of Google's long-term commitment to the market.

That was before Microsoft's legal intervention.

A former assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, one
of the top US computer science institutions, Mr Lee worked in the field of
interactive media software at Apple and Silicon Graphics before opening
Microsoft's Beijing R&D centrein 1998.

An expert in speech-recognition technologies, he was most recently head of
Microsoft's natural interactive services division, which was set up to develop
technologies that make it easier and more natural for people to use computers.

"As a senior executive, Dr Lee has direct knowledge of Microsoft's trade
secrets concerning search technologies and China business strategies,"
Microsoft said in a statement. "He has accepted a position focused on the same
set of technologies and strategies for a direct competitor in egregious
violation of his explicit contractual obligation."

Google said: "We have reviewed Microsoft's claims and they are completely
without merit. Google is focused on building the best place in the world for
great innovators to work. We're thrilled to have Dr Lee on board at Google. We
will defend vigorously against these meritless claims and will fully support Dr
Lee."

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