Microsoft&Google Both Feel Like Winners on the Second Preliminary Injection in Dr.Lee's Case

What was all that about in the first place?

Microsoft argued that Kai-Fu Lee was going to do work at Google that was competitive with what he had been doing at Microsoft, which they said would violate the one-year non-compete agreement that Microsoft requires employees to sign.

According to Google's statement, apparently they sued even before knowing what Dr. Lee was going to be doing for the giant search engine.

In July Microsoft gained a temporary injunction to stop Kai-Fu Lee taking up his post as a coordinator for a new Google research center.

"After listening to evidence at a two-day hearing last week and reviewing various documents and court briefs, the Washington state judge decided today in his ruling on Microsoft's request for a preliminary injunction to allow Dr. Lee to work on a much broader range of things for Google. There are some restrictions, but the ruling basically allows Dr. Lee to do what we've wanted him to be able to do.", says Google referring to the second hearing.

On the other hand, Microsoft sees things differently:"We are pleased with our victory in court today. The court entered an injunction that restricts the work Dr. Lee can do for Google, preventing him from working on speech, natural language and search technologies, as well as setting the overall research and development course for Google China. Today's injunction is broader than the Temporary Restraining Order, which was granted to Microsoft in July, and imposes further restrictions on Dr. Lee's activities in China. The injunction restricts Dr. Lee to limited interviewing and site location activities."

You can see for yourselves checking out both companies' statements here http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/sep05/09-13GoogleStatementPR.mspx and here http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

So, bottom line, someone got the wrong picture here. Dr. Lee is allowed to do what he does best, but in fact, he's not...
Maybe the trial still set for January will clear things up, unless the involved parties would not reach an agreement.