Google's loss is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's gain.

The EFF, based in San Francisco, said Monday it has snapped up Michael Kwun, the Mountain View-based search engine's chief of litigation.

"I've really been a big fan of EFF," Kwun said in a brief telephone interview.

Kwun, 39, graduated from Boalt School of Law at UC Berkeley in 1998. He was the lawyer responsible for managing Google's ongoing defense against a copyright case brought by Viacom. Other intellectual property courtroom disputes concern YouTube, Google Book Search, Google AdWords and Google Image Search.

"I've always been interested in technology and its intersection with law," Kwun said. "I think that technology creates a whole wealth of issues."

Obviously, he'll be making less cash at the nonprofit, where he'll focus on intellectual property. "It's rewarding in different ways," he said.

Google has recently lost several top executives, including Elliot Schrage, VP of global communications, Sheryl Sandberg, vice president for global online sales and Douglas Merrill, chief information officer.

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