Kim Dotcom Is in Trouble Again

MegaUpload founder suffered a significant court defeat from the NZ government and can now be extradited to face a trial in a US court.The court in New Zealand decided that the search warrant used in the Dotcom’s arrest on US online piracy charges was legitimate.


Apparently, the decision will benefit American prosecutors who claim that MegaUpload website made damages to movie studios and record companies of over $500 million, before generating over $175 million in criminal proceeds by allowing users store and share copyrighted content, like films and TV shows.

If Kim Dotcom is extradited to the United States, the ensuing copyright case will surely set a precedent for Internet liability legislation. In case Dotcom wins, entertainment industry will have to rethink distribution methods they use on the Internet.

According to the previous high court ruling, the search warrants were vague and enabled the authorities to seize stuff irrelevant to the charges against MegaUpload founder. However, the appeals court decided the warrants were adequately worded and shouldn’t have caused any misunderstanding. The court claimed the warrant clearly stated what the police could take.

It didn’t go all the American government’s way – the appeals court upheld a previous ruling that the prosecutors hadn’t been authorized to send clones of seized electronic evidence to the US. In other words, the New Zealand government could be sued by Kim Dotcom for its role in the raid in his NZ mansion.

Nevertheless, Dotcom may find it difficult to challenge evidence at his extradition hearing scheduled for July 2014. A Supreme Court decision is pending on whether American prosecutors must disclose evidence to be used in the court hearing. Both the defendant and the plaintiffs claimed they could also appeal to the Supreme Court to reverse the appeal court decision.