Despite fighting legal battles in both the United States and New Zealand, Kim Dotcom and his former Megaupload colleagues have a long road ahead of them. Speaking in the Wellington Supreme Court today, lawyer for the US David Boldt indicated that the extradition battle may only be "at half-time".
When Megaupload was shut down by United States authorities in 2012, along with the arrest of its operators in New Zealand, few people anticipated the scale of the legal battle that would ensue. After countless legal processes and procedures, every attempt to force Kim Dotcom and colleagues Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato, and Bram van der Kolk into submission have been met with resistance. Perhaps the most important battle – to have the quartet sent to the US to face charges including copyright infringement, racketeering, and money laundering – is still underway and being fiercely contested. Comments made in the Wellington Supreme Court today indicate that the process is moving at glacial pace.
David Boldt, a lawyer for the United States, told the Court that the extradition battle “might almost be at half-time”, opening up the potential for more years of struggle. Back in July, after the case had traveled through the District Court and High Court, New Zealand’s Court of Appeal
ruled that Dotcom and his former colleagues are indeed eligible for extradition to the United States. “We are satisfied that New Zealand law permits extradition for copyright infringement in the circumstances of this case. That is so although we have held, contrary to previous authority, that double criminality is required in extradition between New Zealand and the United States. The appellants are accused of conduct that, if proved, would establish extradition offences in New Zealand law,” the ruling reads. “A criminal offense is committed by anyone who knowingly possesses an infringing digital copy of a protected work in the course of business with a view to committing any act, such as online dissemination, that infringes the copyright.” Dotcom and his co-accused hope the Supreme Court will come to a different conclusion but according to
RNZ, Boldt told the Supreme Court today that there is no direct right of appeal in Dotcom’s criminal case, since in 2012, when the case began, there was no eligibility for a third appeal in extradition cases. “You have said before ‘if it’s not mentioned we are simply unable to say we have jurisdiction’. That contrasts with the civil jurisdiction where there is a right of appeal,” Boldt told the Court. Of course, lawyers for the Megaupload quartet disagree.
