MegaUpload Calls for Dismissal in America

In case the court agrees to dismiss, the website case will be over. It was in the beginning of this year that the United States launched one of the biggest criminal copyright cases ever against file-sharing service MegaUpload and its employees, including Kim Dotcom, the founder. At the same time, the US authorities seized domain names, servers and personal belongings, after which they asked foreign authorities for the extradition of the defendants arrested abroad.

Since then, MegaUpload’s founder and his colleagues have been doing their best to fight against extradition in New Zealand and even had some success. The American case was based on the idea that the authorities failed to serve the file-sharing service as was required in a criminal case. What the US government did was just putting MegaUpload out of business and its due process rights have been violated. According to media reports, the Dotcom’s attorneys claim both prongs of the procedural due process test were met.

Meanwhile, the crucial issue in the motion to dismiss was that MegaUpload has never been served. The site’s lawyer Ira Rothken pointed out that unlike people, organizations couldn’t be served outside the jurisdiction of the United States.

Industry experts agree that if this stops the file-sharing service from being tried in the United States, it would be a major stuff-up for the government, which could find itself sued.