The Megaupload case is going to do down in history, one way or another, as one of the defining moments of global copyright law and enforcement. The historic extradition case would have gone down next month in the New Zealand court, but we won’t know anything until March 2013.
New Zealand’s Stuff is reporting that Dotcom’s lawyer and Crown lawyers representing the US government both agreed to the delay. In a perfect world, this would be good news for Dotcom who needs time to construct a defense and fight the charges that have been brought against him. The Megaupload founder doesn’t see it that way though.
Extradition hearing delayed til March. Dirty delay tactics by the US. They destroyed my business. Took all my assets. Time does the rest.
The NZ government is refusing an NZ resident due process and a fair defense. Shame on you John Key for allowing this to happen. Shame on you
Time would indeed do the rest as Dotcom still does not have access to most of his assets. His lawyers are essentially working for free at the moment. You can bet Dotcom will be paying them a huge bonus if he wins the case and has his assets reinstated.
Stuff also reports that the U.S. revealed during the delay hearing that they will appeal any orders to have evidence returned to Dotcom. They even threatened to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. If the New Zealand court system is anything like America’s, he might not get to see that evidence for a very long time.
If you recall, New Zealand District Court Judge David Harvey ordered the FBI to return all evidence they have against Dotcom. The threat of appeal makes it so that the evidence they currently have will remain out of the public eye until the appeals can work their way up through the Supreme Court or if Dotcom is extradited to the U.S.
At this point, it seems that the U.S. is waging a war of attrition against Dotcom. One can assume that their hope is that he just gives up and goes quietly. If the U.S. has been watching his Twitter feed, however, they would know that he’s going to do everything but go quietly. He has become somewhat of an Internet hero and has taken up the expectations that comes with the label. The Megaupload case isn’t over by a long shot and we’ll continue to hear more throughout the rest of the year.
