Judge Clears the Way for Google's Microsoft Hire

MarkEst1973 was one of the first to write to tell us MSNBC is reporting that a Judge has cleared the way for Google to hire former Microsoft employee Kai-Fu Lee. The hire does come with several limitations and Lee was also found to have 'misled his former employer and taken advantage of confidential Microsoft information'. This comes as a follow up to the original story in which Microsoft sued Google in order to prevent the hire. Tom Burt was quoted as saying that "Dr. Lee is going to be the highest-paid HR manager ever."

Comments

thought so.

[yagu]

This is good news all around (all right, maybe not for Mr. Ballmer) as it underscores faith in the rights of employees to work for whom they want when they want assuming they act in reasonably good faith (NOTE: this is a standard hardly applied equitably to corporations.

If you read the transcripts it seems clear (to me at least) Microsoft kind of blew it with this guy. They hired him for important work expanding their market into China and hamstrung him in his ideas and proposals.

Also, as an aside, I got criticized for my post and my views about this issue. Most notable I feel vindicated in this portion of the exchange:

(other poster:) A judge already ruled preliminarily in Microsoft's favor, stating that Lee could not do the duties at Google he was hired to do.

My response (emphasis mine):

Getting the preliminary injunction in cases like this is pretty standard procedure. No judge is going to allow a potential violation of a contract (or crime) be committed is it can be checked first. This is not unusual. I don't know what the final result will be here, but I'm guessing Fu-Lee will prevail.

Also, for the record, in contrast to Tom Burt's crowing ""Dr. Lee is going to be the highest-paid HR manager ever.", Google's main goal was to have Lee to establish recruiting and expansion in China... And I doubt for a moment Lee won't be contributing to discussions about products and company directions. That part of the "contract" is just plain unenforcable.

Re:HR Manager

[bladesjester]

If they're well-connected, HR managers can bring in an extreme amount of talent. It really comes down to who you know and how they think of you.

If they know you and trust/like you, chances are you might be able to bring them aboard. Let's face it, it doesn't matter what company we're talking about - getting the right employees can make or break you.

A word to MS....

[Maxim Kovalenko]

For the next year he will be the best compensated HR man around. After all MS, that is what the non-competion agreement you made him sign was for....After that, he can freely work to put MS into the ground. Which he will more than likely be very notivated to do after this debacle.

Re:Microsoft wasn't completely unjustified.

[twiddlingbits]

Maybe, but the burden of proof is on MS to prove he used Confidential info. To prove this they would have to reveal that Confidential info at trial to show the judge and jury the facts and I doubt the judge would seal the transcript. So then everyone would know. This won't get in front of a trial judge, it will be settled. All it would take is for Google to not let him work on the technologies he developed at MS for one year, and I doubt the case can get heard in a year. Of course MS could then sue Google for somehow using MS "Trade Secrets" they supposedly got from Mr Lee. But that is still very hard to prove.