boakes.org

Microsoft and Google were bound to end up in a high profile court case sooner or later. It turns out that personnel issues are the catalyst for their first major legal fracas.

Former Microsoft Beijing employee Dr Kai-Fu Lee, has been hired by Google to be President of their Chinese R&D operation. Mircosoft say that’s naughty because his current contract forbids him from working for a competitor for 12 months after he exits their employment.

It’s easy (fun) to dismiss this as Microsoft trying to extend their monopoly beyond the desktop and into corporate exectutives, but those of us who’ve worked for any major technology company have probably all seen (and agreed to be bound by) similar policies.

Google have responded that there is no case to answer, this will be interesting to watch.