The saga of Dr. Kai-Fu Lee continues, as he seeks to escape the clutches of Microsoft by denying he ever had access or made contributions to MSN search technology.
“Can’t spend what you ain’t got. Can’t lose what you never had,” Gregg Allman sang, and that seems to mirror Dr. Lee’s defense in the trial pitting Microsoft against Google. A recent report on Silicon.com cites court records, where Dr. Lee acknowledges working for Microsoft in China, but denies working on search. Since he didn’t work on search, he can’t be considered in violation of his non-compete agreement by taking a job with Google.
Dr. Lee further disputes ever being a resident of Washington state, home of Microsoft and the location where Microsoft filed its suit against him and Google. Since that filing, Google has attempted to sue in California court to free Dr. Lee from the Microsoft contract. California law tends to be against non-compete agreements.
His work with Microsoft saw him overseeing a research center in China, and later took a position working in the United States on speech technology. During that time, Dr. Lee claims he did not see “meaningful or detailed information” about Microsoft’s plans for search. Dr. Lee’s expertise and doctorate are both in the speech technology field.
Whether this is a case of Microsoft attempting to thwart a competitor, or Google stealing a valuable component of Microsoft’s executive team (much in the way Microsoft has done to companies in the past), will be decided by the court. Either way, Dr. Lee still receives his pay and stock option vesting from Google during his first 12 months away from Microsoft. Can’t lose what you never had, Mr. Ballmer.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
