Losing the services of Kai-Fu Lee for the rest of this year would have a profound effect on Google’s recruiting efforts in China, the search engine company has argued in its legal battle with Microsoft.In court papers filed last week, Google also claimed that Microsoft’s lawsuit over Lee’s defection is driven by the Redmond, Wash.-based company’s fear that, because of Lee’s “powerful reputation” among Chinese students, “many of the students both companies seek to recruit would go to Google, not Microsoft.” A Washington state judge has temporarily barred Lee from performing work at Google that competes with what he did at Microsoft–including planning for the Chinese search market. The judge is slated to hear arguments next week on whether to extend the ban until a trial set for January. For more on this visit here.