Aside from Andrus Nomm\u2019s\u00a0plea deal and conviction<\/a>, progress in the criminal proceedings against Megaupload\u2019s founder and former associates is slow.<\/p>\n The United States has asked New Zealand to extradite Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, but the German-born entrepreneur and his former colleagues are fighting the request tooth and nail.<\/p>\n As the extradition battle continues, the criminal case in the U.S. has been halted as well. The same is true for the civil lawsuits filed by the\u00a0RIAA<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0MPA<\/a>. These are not expected to start until the criminal case is finalized.<\/p>\n Over the past years, Megaupload has repeatedly asked the court to stay these lawsuits. The latest request came in a few days ago. Since the music and movie industry outfits don\u2019t object to another delay, District Court Judge Liam O\u2019Grady extended the stay until October this year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These bi-annual postponements are a mere formality now and it could take several more years before the lawsuits continue. That said, there were some other unusual developments in the RIAA and MPA lawsuits over the past weeks that are worth highlighting.<\/p>\n As it turns out, the most recent order to stay was the last one signed by Judge Liam O\u2019Grady. Earlier this month the RIAA and MPA cases against Megaupload were reassigned to District Judge T. S. Ellis. There are no further details as to why this happened but Megaupload\u2019s lawyers certainly noticed.<\/p>\n Last week Megaupload sent a\u00a0notice of related cases<\/a>\u00a0to the court, suggesting that it would be better to assign the criminal case and the civil forfeiture cases to Judge Ellis as well.<\/p>\n \u201cMegaupload respectively submits that the Criminal Action and two civil forfeiture actions also should be reassigned to Judge Ellis in the interests of judicial economy, so that a single judge may preside and administer these related cases efficiently.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough both civil copyright actions are stayed at this time, the rulings in one action may affect or control issues in the other when active litigation resumes; therefore, the Court has prudently assigned them a single District Judge to preside over both,\u201d the notice reads.<\/p>\n Megaupload probably wouldn\u2019t have made this request if it didn\u2019t see Judge Ellis as a good option to handle these cases. While some have described him as a \u2018bully in a black robe<\/a>\u2018 or an \u2018activist judge,\u2019 most \u2018critique\u2019\u00a0appears<\/a>\u00a0related to the prosecution side. Megaupload certainly doesn\u2019t seem concerned.<\/p>\n However, a few days after Judge Ellis was assigned to the lawsuits, the cases were reassigned to District Judge Anthony J Trenga. Again, it\u2019s not clear why this change was made, but his name is certainly not unfamiliar when it comes to criminal copyright infringement cases.<\/p>\n Trenga was also the presiding judge in the case against the popular pirate site NinjaVideo. In this case, several people were convicted of criminal copyright infringement. They included the site\u2019s founder Hana Beshara who was sentenced to\u00a022 months in prison<\/a>.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Megaupload also played a role in the NinjaVideo case back in 2010. As part of \u201cOperation in Our Sites\u201d, the U.S. Government approached Kim Dotcom\u2019s Megaupload with a search warrant targeting files uploaded by NinjaVideo staff.<\/p>\n According to Kim Dotcom, the FBI made it clear that the warrant should be kept quiet so as not to jeopardize the NinjaVideo investigation. Megaupload complied with this law enforcement request and was under the impression that it had to preserve the files, which it did.<\/p>\n This decision to keep the files online and accessible was later used as evidence against Megaupload in their criminal prosecution. Megaupload saw this as a form of \u2018evidence planting<\/a>\u2018 but the Department of Justice shrugged that off as a \u201cconspiracy theory<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n While these events took place well over a decade ago, the issue might be revisited in the future. That is, if Megaupload also asks for Judge Trenga to be assigned to the criminal case. At the time of writing, no such request has been made.<\/p>\n Source: \u00a0MPA and RIAA Cases Postponed Again<\/h2>\n
![\"megaupload](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/megaupload-order.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNew Judge<\/h2>\n
Another Judge Change<\/h2>\n
![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
<\/a> TorrentFreak.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"