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MegaUpload lawsuits move to ‘inactive docket’
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 28 March 2023
The Virginia court where civil lawsuits against MegaUpload were filed by the US music and movie industries back in 2014 has formally moved those cases to the ‘inactive docket’. On the basis that they are, you know, inactive.
MegaUpload was, of course, a file-transfer and video-sharing platform shutdown by the American authorities in 2012 on the grounds that it facilitated rampant copyright infringement. US prosecutors have been trying ever since to extradite key MegaUpload execs, who are currently based in New Zealand, to face criminal charges in relation to their old business.
Last year two of those execs reached a deal with the American authorities meaning they will now face those charges in New Zealand rather than the US. However, extradition proceedings continue against overall MegaUpload boss Kim Dotcom. So far prosecutors have prevailed whenever the New Zealand courts have considered whether or not Dotcom can be extradited, although the appeals process has not yet been completely exhausted.
This means that Dotcom remains in New Zealand and the criminal case against MegaUpload is yet to really progress. But what about the civil lawsuits filed by the music and movie industries?
Well, everyone pretty much agrees that the criminal proceedings should go through the motions first before the record labels and movie studios push for damages over all the alleged MegaUpload-enabled copyright infringement. Which means for years now, at regular intervals, legal reps for MegaUpload have formally requested that the lawsuits be stayed, and neither the labels nor the studios have ever objected to that proposal.
According to Torrentfreak, that happened again recently, and it was after yet another stay order was issued that the judge overseeing the case confirmed the lawsuits were now being placed on the ‘inactive docket’.
“It appearing to the court that this case has been stayed nearly continuously since 10 Jun 2014, it is hereby ordered that this case be, and the same hereby is, stricken from the active docket and placed on the inactive docket”, the judge wrote.
That move doesn’t really change much, except to confirm that – more than a decade on from the shutdown of MegaUpload – these lawsuits aren’t likely to properly get to court anytime soon.
