Originally published July 25 2005
Bush promotes go-slow approach to global warming; other states, countries tackle problem head on
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
President Bush has decided to stick with his slow and cautious approach to slowing global warming, but the Philadelphia Inquirer reports other countries and some U.S. states are turning to aggressive tactics, including compliance with the strict Kyoto treaty of 1997, which was rejected by the U.S. government.
The suit was filed in a Washington state court against Google and Kai-Fu Lee, who until Monday was the corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Services Division.
"Accepting such a position with a direct Microsoft competitor like Google violates the narrow non-competition promise Lee made when he was hired as an executive," Microsoft said in its lawsuit, which was seen by CNET News.com.
In the suit, Microsoft seeks monetary damages as well as an injunction upholding the noncompete clause and other provisions of Lee's contract, including terms barring him from sharing Microsoft trade secrets.
Google has emerged as a top rival for Microsoft, and several notable employees have left the software giant for Google in recent months.
Google issued a press release on Lee's hiring and announced plans to open a China research and development center this quarter.
Lee, an expert in speech recognition technology, founded Microsoft's China research lab in the late 1990s and worked at Silicon Graphics Inc. and Apple Computer before joining Microsoft.
Though workers leave tech companies for rivals all the time, it's not uncommon for a dispute to end up in court, particularly when an executive has a contract with a noncompete clause.
Microsoft has turned to legal channels before to pursue former employees who it felt were unfairly competing against the company.
Notably, the company sued when former executive Tod Nielsen and a number of ex-Microsoft employees went to work for Crossgain, a start-up that was focused on allowing business applications to run over the Web.
A Microsoft lawyer said in an interview that Lee's move to join Google was a "particularly egregious" violation of the noncompete agreement that he had signed when he joined Microsoft.
"He has access to sensitive information, to trade secrets about our search technology and business plans and our China business strategies," Deputy General Counsel Tom Burt told CNET News.com.
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