Google said Tuesday it is opening a research and development office in China -- quickly drawing a lawsuit from Microsoft for hiring away one of that company's top China experts to lead the new effort.
The R&D center, to be headed by former Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee, will open sometime in the third quarter of 2005, the Mountain View search technology company said Tuesday. Google would not say where in China the center will be located.
"By establishing an R&D center in China,'' the company said in a statement, "Google is making a strong commitment to attracting and developing Chinese talent, as well as partnering with local universities and institutes.''
Lee, widely known for his speech recognition and artificial intelligence work, joined Microsoft in 1998 as its managing director of research in China, founding its Beijing research lab. More recently, he was corporate vice president of Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division, where he oversaw efforts to develop technologies to make user interfaces simpler and more natural.
Before Microsoft, he worked in Silicon Valley, running a business unit of Silicon Graphics called Cosmo Software and spending six years at Apple Computer.
Google hired Lee directly from Microsoft, boasting about the appointment in its news release. Microsoft responded by filing a lawsuit Tuesday against Lee and Google in King County Superior Court in Washington, charging that Lee breached Microsoft's ``confidentiality and non-compete agreement'' and that Google enticed him to do so.
Employees often sign agreements not to work for rival companies for a certain period of time after leaving their employers. According to the suit, Lee had a one-year, non-compete agreement.
"As a senior executive, Dr. Lee has direct knowledge of Microsoft's trade secrets concerning search technologies and China business strategies,'' the company said in a statement.
"He has accepted a position focused on the same set of technologies and strategies for a direct competitor in egregious violation of his explicit contractual obligations.
In the suit, Microsoft called Lee ``one of the main architects of Microsoft's business strategies in China'' and said he led efforts to develop ``certain proprietary search technologies...that compete with substantially similar services offered by Google.''
Google called the Microsoft suit "completely without merit.''
"Google is focused on building the best place in the world for great innovators to work,'' the company said in a statement.
"We're thrilled to have Dr. Lee on board at Google. We will defend vigorously against these meritless claims and will fully support Dr. Lee.''
Although it offers a Chinese language version of its search engine, Google's presence in China has been limited, to date.
The company in May received a license from the Chinese government to operate a "representative office,'' now in Shanghai, to learn about the market.
Google already has research centers in Mountain View, New York, Santa Monica, Kirkland, Wash., Tokyo, Zurich and Bangalore.
Speculation that Google was preparing a significant push into China has accelerated in recent weeks, particularly after Chief Executive Eric Schmidt was seen visiting the country.
Google is a minority owner of Baidu, a Chinese search engine, and observers have wondered whether Google wanted to buy the company outright.
But Baidu has reportedly said it is not interested in being acquired, and the company recently filed to go public on the Nasdaq.