Kai-Fu Lee, whose defection from Microsoft to Google has resulted in a legal battle between the two giants, testified at a court hearing Tuesday that an expletive-ridden rant by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was a low point in his career at Microsoft, coming before he decided to leave the company, reports the Associated Press. Lee also said he was frustrated and "deeply disappointed at our incompetence in China - that we have wasted so many years in China with little to show for it."

Microsoft on Tuesday was seeking to extend a temporary restraining order - which has prevented Lee from beginning his work for Google - until the lawsuit goes to trial in January.

Lee testified that he had been embarrassed by Microsoft's business practices and that Chinese government officials joked about Microsoft's internal politics. He said a low point for him at Microsoft occurred when Gates yelled at him and said, using profanity, that the company had been "done in" by the Chinese and their government.

Lee had been at Microsoft since 1998 and joined Google in July to lead its expansion into China. Microsoft sued Google and Lee, saying his duties at Google would violate the noncompete agreement he had signed as a Microsoft employee, and accusing him of using insider information to get his job at Google. Google has denied the allegations and has countersued.