A partner in a Sammamish software company, with a background in the Israeli Military Intelligence, is at the center of an intriguing Microsoft law suit.

Microsoft is suing Miki Mullor, who until recently worked for the company, claiming he used his role at Microsoft to gain access to confidential patent litigation data, which he in turn used to sue several computer makers.

Mullor was a managing partner at a company called Ancora Technologies, a Sammamish software development company.

In 2005 he applied for a job at Microsoft, and was hired, stating in his job application that Ancora had gone out of business.

Microsoft now claim that Ancora was still in business and that Mullor was in fact still the CEO, while he was working for Microsoft.

In 2008 Ancora filed a patent complaint against Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., stating that their use of certain Microsoft technology violated an Ancora patent.

Microsoft is now also a party in that case.

Microsoft is claiming that the information used by Ancora in filing that case was garnered by Mullor, and that he downloaded confidential documents to his company-issued laptop.

“These are shameful, dishonest attacks on my character by Microsoft,” Mullor said in a statment released this week.

Mullor has held several engineering management roles in start-up companies, such as Blue Pumpkin Software, Startacare Inc. and Hiho Technologies. Before moving to the US, Miki ran a software consulting business in his native Israel, where he had also served in the country’s military intelligence.

In his statement Mullor said that he originally approached Microsoft in 2003.

“We ceased business operations at Ancora in 2005, and Microsoft was the first company to extend me an employment offer. I accepted… when I joined Microsoft, I notified them in writing of Ancora and my patent in both my resume and in my employment agreement.”

“In its complaint against me, Microsoft withheld the portions of these key documents.”