Google countersues over 'poached' exec

Google has sued Microsoft over the search firm's hiring of a Microsoft executive to run its Chinese research centre.

The filing, at a San José state court, comes two days after Microsoft sued Google to prevent the executive, Dr Kai-Fu Lee, from defecting to Google.

Google's filing argues that Microsoft cannot restrain employees from choosing where they work.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it had filed lawsuits against Google and Dr Lee to force him to honour confidentiality and non-competition agreements.

Robyn McIlroy, a senior associate at law firm Pinsent Masons, said: "Although the law varies, this kind of action is very common in the UK.

"Many firms have these kind of agreements and action usually occurs when a member of staff has already gone to a competitor. Our advice is to try and avoid them as they can be very costly and can take a long time to resolve."

McIlroy explained that such cases are usually resolved by negotiations that focus on stopping the person doing work that is directly competitive for an agreed period of time.