Microsoft Sues Google Over Exec Departure

Microsoft Corp. is suing Google Inc. and a former Microsoft executive whom the leading search engine said it was hiring away from the U.S. software company.

Microsoft filed suit in Seattle against Google after it announced it was hiring former Microsoft vice president Kai-Fu Lee, an expert in search technology, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Google said it intends to make Lee, who had been at Microsoft for seven years, president of the search engine’s China operations.

Microsoft wants unspecified monetary damages and an injunction to stop Lee, 43, and Google from all actions in violation of Lee’s employment agreement.

The computer scientist is credited with establishing Microsoft’s research and development center in Beijing, which houses about 380 researchers.