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Megaupload Case May Be Dead in the Water for Service Issues

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citykitteh

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10800409

United States district court judge Liam O'Grady said he didn't know if "we are ever going to have a trial in this matter" after being told Dotcom's file-sharing company had never been formally served with criminal papers by the US.
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Basically, the United States has very strict rules about notifying people of lawsuits and how long you have to do so an it appears that they screwed up service on the actual business entity Megaupload.

The NZ News article has the bare bones and Ernesto at Torrent freak has more info here:

http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-trial-may-never-happen-judge-says-120420/

If this issue indeed prevents Megaupload from being tried in the US, it would be a blunder of epic proportions. And it is not the first procedural mistake either.

Last month the New Zealand High Court declared the order used to seize Dotcoms property null and void after it was discovered that the police had acted under a court order that should have never been granted.

The error dates back to January when the police applied for the order granting them permission to seize Dotcoms property. Rather than applying for an interim restraining order, the Police Commissioner applied for a foreign restraining order instead.

The exact ramifications of the failure to serve will become apparent in the near future.
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12 comments
Just by reading the indictment, it's clear the US Attorney's Office has expended a vast amount of resources investigating this case. That doesn't even count the hours of court time and attorney time that has been spent on extradition, seizure motions and the like. What's more, how badly they messed up the service could lead to sanctions against them in Megaupload's favor -- if it was done incorrectly enough -- to cover attorney's fees to defend them.
 
citykitteh said:
Just by reading the indictment, it's clear the US Attorney's Office has expended a vast amount of resources investigating this case. That doesn't even count the hours of court time and attorney time that has been spent on extradition, seizure motions and the like. What's more, how badly they messed up the service could lead to sanctions against them in Megaupload's favor -- if it was done incorrectly enough -- to cover attorney's fees to defend them.
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So you're saying the US government will be shutdown? :o
 
Haha! No! They could just be sanctioned by the court and required to pay the Megaupload guy's attorneys fees. Otherwise, big troubles with the court. But if that happened, the court would look at the bills for the attorney fees and decide how much of it is reasonable to pay. Lots of times those bills get cut in half.
 
citykitteh said:
Haha! No! They could just be sanctioned by the court and required to pay the Megaupload guy's attorneys fees. Otherwise, big troubles with the court. But if that happened, the court would look at the bills for the attorney fees and decide how much of it is reasonable to pay. Lots of times those bills get cut in half.
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Yes! I like that US to do that. I mean, they destroyed MU's business and where they gonna get money if they just leave and say go back and do whatever you want to do, you're free xD Lol. It makes sense now. US should pay!
 
We'll see what happens, but lots of times when attorneys make big screw-ups like this, judges try to help cover unfair costs the other party had to pay.
 
Sorry but wait a damn minute here... this has only just come to light and yet in various threads I have specifically said how can this case even be on going still due to this "error" (whatever it may be).

Not to blow my own horn here but it says a lot when somebody with no real knowledge of the legal system can make a decision on something which is accurate compared to these guys that takes weeks/months/years to come to same decisions!

:facepalm:

JGM.
 
citykitteh said:
Haha! No! They could just be sanctioned by the court and required to pay the Megaupload guy's attorneys fees. Otherwise, big troubles with the court. But if that happened, the court would look at the bills for the attorney fees and decide how much of it is reasonable to pay. Lots of times those bills get cut in half.
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Not only lawyer fees. They need to return all of his assets to him and if they can't, the US government would have to pay Kim $$ as compensation.
 
this is the best news regarding cyberlockers i heard in a while.
Anyway..the harm was done.
And i guess this is just another tactic, at the end of the day other filesharing sites would have this under they noses: megaupload escaped with a procedural error, you wont.
Maybe is paranoia or something but i really doubt that FBI and the prosecuters paid by hollywood would be so stupid to make this mistake unintentionally..
 
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