Google Gets New China Chief And R&D Center

From ChinaTechNews: Google Gets New China Chief And R&D Center

"Google will open a product research and development center in China, and has hired Dr. Kai-Fu Lee to lead the operation and serve as President of the company's growing Chinese operations.

The Google China R&D center will open in the third quarter of 2005. By establishing an R&D center in China, Google says it is making a strong commitment to attracting and developing Chinese talent, as well as partnering with local universities and institutes.

Dr. Lee, who is known for his pioneering work in the areas of speech recognition and artificial intelligence, joins Google from Microsoft, where he most recently held the position of corporate vice president, after founding Microsoft Research China in the late 1990s."


From The New York Times: Microsoft Sues Over Google's Hiring of a Former Executive

"Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Google on Tuesday asserting that Google hired away a Microsoft executive in violation of a clause in the executive's contract that precludes him for working for a competitor.

The lawsuit came one day after Kai-Fu Lee, 43, an expert in speech recognition and an accomplished engineer, told Microsoft officials he was leaving his position as vice president of the interactive services division to take over as head of Google's fledgling operations in China.

Tom Burt, a deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said Dr. Lee had knowledge of trade secrets pertaining to Microsoft's search engine technology and its China business strategy. Under Dr. Lee's employment contract with Microsoft, he is not allowed to work for a direct competitor for at least one year after leaving Microsoft or to disclose company trade secrets at any point, Mr. Burt said."

Read more:
Google Steps up Fight for the China Market
Chinese search engine market seen as gold mine
Microsoft Prepares to Launch MSN China
U.S. Web Giants Target China