In a complaint filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Microsoft (MSFT) has sued Kai-Fu Lee for breach of employment contract and Google (GOOG) for "intentionally assisting Lee."

Kai-Fu Lee is the new head of Google's operations in China, and he previously worked with Microsoft. Microsoft says Lee took the Google position within a year of leaving Microsoft, which is a violation of his contract.

Microsoft's lawsuit says, "Google is fully aware of Lee's promises to Microsoft, but has chosen to ignore them, and has encouraged Lee to violate them."

Google says Microsoft's claims are without merit.