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INTERNET MOGUL KIM Dotcom vowed to fight a New Zealand court ruling that he can be extradited to the United States where he is wanted on piracy-related charges.
After a nine-week hearing Judge Nevin Dawson found there was “overwhelming” evidence to support extradition of the 41-year-old and three other Megaupload founders.
Dawson said the four had 15 days to file an appeal, but Dotcom, who has spent four years battling the case, said outside Auckland’s North Shore District Court that he had acted immediately.
“This is not the last word on the matter. We’ve filed an appeal,” the German national told reporters.
I’m disappointed. That’s all I have to say and I wish everybody a very merry Christmas. I’m going home now.
If extradited and found guilty by a US court, Kim faces up to 20 years in jail for offering pirated content American authorities say cost copyright owners hundreds of millions of dollars.
New Zealand Justice Minister Amy Adams, who will have to approve any extradition, would not be drawn on the court ruling.
“As the court’s decision may be appealed, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.” she said.
Kim Dotcom / TwitterThank you for your support. The fight goes on. Enjoy the holidays. I'm happy to be with my kids. There are bigger things than copyright :-)
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 23, 2015
Dotcom argued Megaupload was a genuine file-sharing site which did its best to police copyright infringement but had 50 million daily users and could not control every aspect of their activity.
He has accused US authorities of pursuing a vendetta against him on behalf of politically influential Hollywood studios.
The judge said Megaupload at its peak was the 13th most popular site on the internet, accounting for 4% of all online traffic.
In 2010, it is estimated Dotcom earned $42 million, his co-accused Mathias Ortmann $9m, Bram van der Kolk $2m and Finn Batato $400,000.
Serious misconduct allegations
Dotcom, who was arrested in a dramatic police raid on his mansion north of Auckland in January 2012, has denied all charges, which in his ruling the judge said were “not trivial in nature”.
“They allege serious misconduct involving approximately US$175 million claimed to be lost by the copyright owners. As a prima facie case exists, it is proper that the copyright owners should be heard at trial,” he said.
https://soundcloud.com/nzherald/ira-rothkin-us-lawyer-for-kim-dotcom
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald two days before the decision, Dotcom said the District Court finding would not be the final word and the legal battle could last several more years with appeals from both sides.
I don’t know how long the whole process will take. A year and a half, two, three years or more. It’s a very complex matter.
He added that he had fresh legal funding to defend himself in New Zealand and also planned to take legal action in Hong Kong, where he set up Megaupload in 2005, seeking more than $2 billion in damages for the takedown of the file-sharing site.
Earlier this month he won the right to access his $50 million in restrained funds in Hong Kong for legal and living expenses.
“I now have the opportunity to fight back in Hong Kong and take legal action against those who have destroyed what I have built there and that means I can sue, indirectly the US government by suing the Hong Kong Department of Justice,” he said.
I have had enough of being defensive. I want to go on the attack now and 2016 will bring that opportunity.
Dotcom is a German national with permanent residency in New Zealand under a government visa scheme for wealthy migrants.
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This guy is one hell of a story. Most of it made up by him, he is the most spectacular example of somebody faking it till they made it! Have to hand it to him. Now he just has to stay out of jail!
But he didn’t fake it… he fcuking made it and the man wants to take it away form him. He’s a legend and a half, well.. maybe 2 and a quarter!
He didn’t host any content and it was used for plenty of normal purposes. Would be the same as prosecuting UPC for people doing illegal things using the Internet connection. It’s nonsense
He did host the content on Megauploads servers, that’s the problem. It’s not like TPB where they don’t actually host the content themselves.
I think you will find he provided a service for customers to host content on paid space on his servers.
The copyright infringements were by these individuals, however the attack on the service isn’t about anything other than political statements, and making an example.
Hopefully he will get a fair trial
Did life give him lemons, so he made lemonade?
Life gave him lemons. He made pancakes, with bacon.
Signs on him then!
Copyright infringement is theft.
The egg nog must be out already at the journal
Love to hear your explanation on how there was any theft or copyright infringement here? Can you also prove anyone who watched this content would have otherwise paid for it resulting in this so called hundreds of millions of dollars lost?
You wouldn’t download a car
You wouldn’t steal a policeman’s hat and then poo in it.
Copyright is more complicated than you think……
If I purchase a book, it is my property and i can lend it / share it with anyone I want.
I can also lend you a movie I own, I can back up movies I own. After I lend it too you, it is your responsibility to delete it afterwards……or you are guilty of copyright infringement, not me.
No you can’t
Copyright infringement is not theft. Theft is when an original article is taken without consent. Very different than copying the article without consent. Words mean things.
Also I find it hilarious that someone with an anarchist symbol is coming down on the side of authority. Obviously you don’t know the meaning of symbols as well as words.
The concept of copyright was invented here in Ireland.
When the young Irish student Colmcille made an exact copy of his teacher’s illuminated manuscript he was challenged for theft under the Brehon Laws.
The judge ruled in favour of the teacher and Colmcille was expelled to Iona.
“To every cow its calf to every writer his book” said the judge.
That was the very first ruling on copyright in world history.
The book is still in Dublin.
The Cathach of St Colmcille, as the book is called, is now 1400 years old.
He is known as St. Columba in Scotland if you are a Scottish reader.
Small correction:
I have checked out the exact wording of that Brehon Law ruling and it goes like this:
“To every cow its calf to every book its copy”.
.
(The first “intellectual property law” ruling in history)
Huh, never knew that. Very interesting.
They should go after real criminals, there is far worse than this guy walking the streets.
*the in the heading
I’ve seen a good few interviews with this guy.
As much as I support Internet freedom and the sharing of information on the Internet . It bugs me when guys like these try and pretend they are fighting on that side , as if they are the robin hoods of the Internet or something and the evil governments are trying to suppress the underdog. Comparing themselves to the likes of snowden or assange.
A fair punishment would be to calculate how much he has earned from illegal downloads vs genuine legal file sharing and try see how succesful megaupload would have been without that. Then pay some sort of compensation fund with the amount he wrongfully earnes. Rather than just chucking a very intelligent amd harmless guy in jail.
The clue is in his name.
This is the second well deserved “dotcom crash”.
have your say