SAN FRANCISCO - A judge freed a former Microsoft executive Lee Kai-Fu to set up a China research center for Google but set strict limits on what he could do.

Lee Kai-Fu can go to work as president of Google China even though he "misled" Microsoft before jumping ship in July, ruled Judge Steven Gonzalez of King County Superior Court in Washington state.

Ruling on a request by Microsoft to block the executive's move, the judge said Microsoft had "well-founded fear" Lee might betray it but that it could not stop him from giving Google non-technical advice on doing business in China.