Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Google on Tuesday asserting that Google hired away a Microsoft executive in violation of a clause in the executive's contract that precludes him from working for a competitor.
The lawsuit came one day after Kai-Fu Lee (
Tom Burt, a deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said Lee had knowledge of trade secrets pertaining to Microsoft's search engine technology and its China business strategy. Under Lee's employment contract with Microsoft, he is not allowed to work for a direct competitor for at least one year after leaving Microsoft or to disclose company trade secrets at any point, Burt said.
"It's a very egregious violation of his noncompetition agreement," Burt said of Lee's new position with Google. The lawsuit, which also names Lee as a defendant, asks the King County Superior Court in Seattle to enjoin Google and Lee from violating the noncompete clause.
In a prepared statement, Steve Langdon, a Google spokesman, said the company has reviewed the claims and found them "completely without merit."
"We're thrilled to have Dr. Lee on board at Google and we will defend vigorously against these meritless claims," Langdon said in his statement. He declined to elaborate on the basis for Google's legal analysis that the company and Lee were not in violation of the employment contract.
There is nothing unusual about companies asking executives and even rank-and-file workers to sign noncompete clauses. At Microsoft, Burt said, all employees sign an agreement precluding them from giving away trade secrets or working for a competitor for at least a year after leaving the company.
Burt said such an agreement does not preclude Microsoft employees from working for competitors, even immediately upon leaving Microsoft, but they cannot work in a position directly competitive to Microsoft unless they reach a separate agreement with Microsoft.
Burt said that in this case, neither Lee nor Google made an effort to negotiate such an agreement.
Lee has been hired to lead Google's Chinese operations, which are scheduled to begin in earnest in the third quarter of this year. Lee, a graduate of Columbia University who also holds a doctorate in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview that he had been looking to return to China, where he spent the first 11 years of his life.
Lee said he joined Microsoft in 1998. His first job at the company was to start an academic research lab in China. In 2000, he returned to the US and worked on speech recognition. He declined to discuss the lawsuit.
It is not clear whether Lee's new job, as the president of Google's Chinese operations, will put him in direct competition with his old job at Microsoft. At Microsoft, he said, he worked largely on speech recognition projects like designing automated computer systems that could recognize voice commands.
Burt said that Microsoft had been aware of Lee's interest in returning to China but was unable to offer him a leadership position there that is senior enough to suit his desires. Burt said that Microsoft was not necessarily asking the court to prevent Lee from joining Google, but rather to prevent him from competing directly against Microsoft or sharing trade secrets.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
RSS