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Judge rules former Microsoft exec can recruit for Google in ChinaBy GENE JOHNSON Associated Press Writer The Associated Press A state judge, ruling in a case that exposed the behind-the-scenes animosity between two high-tech titans, cleared the way Tuesday for a former Microsoft Corp. executive to perform most of the tasks rival Google Inc. had hired him to do. King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez's decision supersedes a temporary restraining order he imposed this summer and remains in effect until Microsoft's lawsuit against Google goes to trial in January. Kai-Fu Lee remains barred from working on products, services or projects he worked on at Microsoft, including computer search technology. But while the judge said that a noncompete agreement Lee signed with Microsoft is valid, he said recruiting and staffing a Google center in China would not violate that agreement. Lee cannot set budget or compensation levels or define the research that Google will do in China, but he can hire people to work there, the judge said. Lee, who has worked at Microsoft since 2000 and oversaw development of its MSN Internet search technology, including desktop search software rivaling Google's, left in July to lead Google's expansion into China. Microsoft sued Lee and Google, contending that Lee's job at Google would violate the terms of a noncompete agreement, which prohibits him from doing similar work for a rival for a year. Microsoft also accused Lee of using insider information to get his job at Mountain View, Calif.-based Google. Google has responded with its own lawsuit against Microsoft in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif. Google, which is emerging as a formidable competitor to the Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth, said it hired Lee to have him create an engineering office in China. But Lee is also an expert in computer recognition of language -- an important field for search engines such as Google. In a hearing last week, Microsoft asked Gonzalez to restrict the work Lee could do for Google until its lawsuit goes to trial. Gonzalez said in his ruling that the trial would more fully define the rights of both companies under the noncompete agreement. Google wants Lee to help pick a site for the China facility and begin using his connections there to recruit students and software engineers. In China, companies recruit students in the fall to begin work the following summer. Had Lee been barred from recruiting this fall, he would have missed the recruiting season and would have had to wait until next fall, Google said. |