"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.

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.

"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."