The Dr. Kai-Fu Lee Case has been an interesting one to follow, especially since the two giants can’t even agree on who won in court today. Google says the judge ruled in their favor. Microsoft says Ha! I told you we’d win this thing! Who’s right? Maybe both.
According to Google Blog, a Washington state judge ruled that former Microsoft employee Dr. Kai-Fu Lee can begin working for Google immediately as his position at the search company’s Chinese research center with few restrictions.
But according to a press release from Microsoft, the judge found that Dr. Lee misled the company, misused information, and is now under broader restrictions.
Microsoft sued both Dr. Lee and Google after Lee accepted the position as President of Google China to head up Google’s forthcoming research and development center there. Microsoft cried foul claiming Dr. Lee’s new position was tantamount to violating a non-compete agreement he signed with the company.
Dr. Lee denied that his position was in direct violation of any competition agreement as his job with Microsoft was in speech recognition technology, not search. Microsoft filed for an injunction in Washington court to prevent Lee from starting his job there until the one-year agreement was realized. It’s not an easy case to call–and both camps are still contradicting each other.
Google says a Washington judge didn’t continue that injunction. After reviewing the evidence of a two-day hearing, the judge ruled that Dr. Lee could begin work, on a limited basis, for Google China, a ruling Google views as a victory.
The judge decided that Microsoft had “not sufficiently shown that it has a clear legal or equitable right to enjoin Dr. Lee, pending trial, from Establishing and Staffing a Google Development Facility Center.”
As per Nicole Wong’s post at Google Blog, Microsoft was hasty with its action to begin with.
“They sued even before knowing what Dr. Lee was going to be doing here,” she said.
But Microsoft, in contrast to Google’s claims, say that they scored a victory.
“We are pleased with our victory in court today. The court entered an injunction that restricts the work Dr. Lee can do for Google, preventing him from working on speech, natural language and search technologies, as well as setting the overall research and development course for Google China,” reads the release.
One may suppose there will be no clear answers in the case until the trial, set for January.
