Welcome!

Open Source Authors: Hovhannes Avoyan, Al Mannarino, Christopher Keene, Anatoly Krivitsky, Suresh Krishna Madhuvarsu

Related Topics: Search

Search: Article

Google Messes with Microsoft

Knew that Search Hire Would Cause Trouble, Documents Allege
By Search News Desk
Article Rating:
August 6, 2005 05:15 PM EDT
Reads:
 13,726
Don't Mess with Microsoft. That should probably be a bumper sticker. Yet Google has reportedly tried this strategy recently, in hiring away search specialist Dr. Kai-Fu Lee from Redmond. Newly unsealed court documents apparently reveal that
Google anticipated that it would face legal wrangling with its emerging search rival.

Google apparently had a "Plan B," in which Lee would be given a year's worth of paid leave during which he could sit out his noncompete clause. 

The previously relatively obscure Dr. Lee started Microsoft's research lab in China and is expected to do the same for Google in China as well. Both Google and Lee are asking the court to find the noncompete clause invalid, although the most recent court decision has granted Microsoft a temporary restraining order that prohibits Lee from doing what he was hired by Google to do.


Dr. Kai-fu Lee

Published August 6, 2005 – Reads 13,726
Copyright © 2005 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.

More Stories By Search News Desk

SYS-CON Media's Search Developer's Journal (search.sys-con.com), is the first and only global publication to present the hottest timely topics on the merging search engine companies, search optimization and search engine marketing industry, and all related articles, feature and news stories for search technology professionals.

Comments (1) View Comments

Share your thoughts on this story.

Add your comment
You must be signed in to add a comment. Sign-in | Register

In accordance with our Comment Policy, we encourage comments that are on topic, relevant and to-the-point. We will remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks, racial slurs, threats of violence, or other inappropriate material that violates our Terms and Conditions, and will block users who make repeated violations. We ask all readers to expect diversity of opinion and to treat one another with dignity and respect.

Most Recent Comments
SEO/SEM Journal News Desk 08/06/05 04:58:48 PM EDT

Google Messes with Microsoft. Newly unsealed court documents apparently reveal that Google knew it would be in for a fight when it hired away a top search specialist from Redmond. Messing with Microsoft? This is an idea that has been tried by many over the years, with a low success rate.