The federal criminal copyright case against Megaupload founder Kim DotCom in the United States may never go to trial because although DotCom has been served with court papers, his file-sharing company hasn’t, according to a New Zealand newspaper’s coverage of the case in the U.S. Federal judge Liam O’Grady said he didn’t know if “we are ever going to have a trial in this matter” after he was informed Megaupload had not been served with criminal papers.
Dotcom’s U.S.-based attorneyIra Rothken said “We don’t believe Megaupload can be Kim DotComserved in a criminal matter because it is not located within the jurisdiction of the United States.” Prosecutor Jay Prabhu told the Virginia court hearing that might not matter because Dotcom owned 68% of the company. Instead of a corporation that might show up for a trial, Prabu suggested it was a case “seven people who actually don’t want to show up.”
Dotcom faces a court hearing for extradition to the United States after a warrant was issued for him and six others on criminal copyright charges relating to music and movies on its computer servers. O’Grady raised the possible lack of a trial during arguments over FBI applications to wipe Megaupload’s vast database of members’ files. O’Grady said those motions to erase the data on 1100 computer servers seized from Megaupload could be “premature” and requested more information on why Megaupload had not been served.
