Microsoft sues Google over employee poaching

Just when we expected that countless Volish legal eagles would be collecting their p45s and pink slips, it seems that they have been released from the Redmond Volehill to take on Google over a case of employee poaching.

Vole is apparently incandescent with rage after Google hired Kai Fu-lee to head its research and development centre in China. Volish briefs told the robed-but-not-wigged-one at King County Superior Court that by taking a job with a direct competitor, Lee was breaking contractual promises he signed when he was accepted into the nest of Voles in 2000.

A SpokesVole was quoted in the New York Times saying that Google knows of Lee's contractual obligations but chose to ignore them, and actually egged him on. Apparently Lee had to wait a year before he ran off and joined Google.

In his early days as a Volish servitor, Lee helped to develop the MSN search technology and was corporate vice president of the company's Interactive Services Division.

More at The New York Times. µ