Google Calls Microsoft Suit a 'Charade'

In court Wednesday, Google referred to Microsoft's recent lawsuit against the company as a "charade", and asked a Seattle court to reject Microsoft's claim that Google's recent hire of an engineer from the Redmond company was against the employee's non-compete clause.

Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez, the judge assigned to the case, is expected to make a ruling on the motion sometime Thursday.

Kai-Fu Lee, a former vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Services division accepted a Job with Google on July 19. Lee's new role with the search giant will be as head of the company's new Chinese research and development center.

Almost immediately after the announcement, Microsoft said it would pursue legal action against Google.

Google in its filing Wednesday claimed it knew the true intentions of Microsoft's lawsuit. "Indeed, Microsoft executives admitted to Lee that their real intent was to scare other Microsoft employees into remaining at the company," Google said.

Google also submitted a conversation between Lee and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates that allegedly took place July 15.

"Kai-Fu, Steve (Ballmer) is definitely going to sue you and Google over this. He has been looking for something like this, someone at a VP level to go to Google. We need to do this to stop Google," Gates apparently said.

Microsoft says the issue is not any conversation he had with Gates, but rather what he knows and how that could help Google. In Microsoft's own filings, the company said that Lee's job will allow Google to gain an advantage in China through knowledge of Microsoft's plans.

Microsoft noted that Lee even attended a March meeting of Google executives called 'The Google Challenge.' "In short, Dr. Lee was recently handed Microsoft's entire Google competition 'playbook,'" the company said.