Google, Microsoft Return To Court For Hearing About Poached Exec
- by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, September 6, 2005
Documents in the case show the companies' increasingly intense battle to dominate search marketing. Google last week filed papers attempting to cast Microsoft's stance regarding Lee as an example of a pattern of aggressive efforts toward competitors.
In one profanity-laced court document, former Microsoft employee, software developer Marc Lucovsky, alleged that when he defected to Google, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threw a chair across the room and declared, "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy," referring to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "I have done it before and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google."
Schmidt previously was CEO at Novell, Inc., and chief technology officer and corporate executive officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc., both of which are viewed as Microsoft rivals. Late last week, Ballmer reportedly issued a statement calling Lucovsky's account a "gross exaggeration."
Google in July announced that it had hired Lee to head a research and development center in China. That same day, Microsoft filed suit in state court in Washington. Microsoft claimed that Lee's move to Google broke his contract with Microsoft, in which he promised to refrain from working for competitors within one year of leaving the company.
Lee, a vice president at Microsoft since 2000, was "one of the main architects of Microsoft's business strategies in China," according to Microsoft's complaint, in which the Redmond, Wash.-based company argued that Lee has proprietary information about the company's plans to build its business in China.
In its papers filed last week, Google said that it didn't tap Lee for any trade secrets about Microsoft, but for his personal qualities. "Google hired Dr. Lee to help it start up a China development center because of his stature in China, his integrity, his leadership and managerial skills, his technical credentials, and his commitment to and connection with Chinese students," stated one court document.
"Google did not hire Dr. Lee to obtain Microsoft information. Google is admittedly ahead of Microsoft in search technology," continued the document, with a footnote referencing what was characterized as the "Gates depo." As of press time, no additional information explaining that reference was available.
Microsoft alleged in its legal filings that Lee was deeply involved in planning the company's strategy for establishing a foothold in China, and that it would be harmed if Lee now helps Google set up shop in that country.
Court documents reveal a dispute over the scope of Lee's role in developing search engines at Microsoft--which is still struggling to capture market share in search from Google and Yahoo!, the two most popular search engines.
Microsoft claimed that Lee was "engaged in research, product development and strategy" for a host of Microsoft search products, including desktop search. In papers filed earlier this summer as well, Microsoft alleged that its desktop search product (which searches users' hard drives) was "recently developed by Lee's group at Microsoft," and that Lee had responsibility for "managing the creation of new search technologies and methodologies for Microsoft."
But Google and Lee dispute that characterization. "Lee was never responsible for algorithmic Internet search at Microsoft, never saw that code, and never participated in a review," alleged Google in its court papers.
What's more, while Lee had "oversight responsibility" for a team dubbed "MSN Search," this responsibility lasted for just one year between 2001 and 2002--at least three years before Microsoft launched its own organic search product in beta late last year--according to Google's papers.
Last month, Seattle judge Steven Gonzalez granted Microsoft's request for a temporary restraining order barring Lee from working at Google.
