Court: MegaUpload Seizure Carried Out on Wrong Paperwork

Police carrying out raid did so under incorrect paperwork.

The MegaUpload case is pretty high profile. Countless people around the world are watching to see how it unfolds. With this considered, it's rather strange to hear that those orchestrating the investigation appear to have made a rather big mistake. According to a High Court judge in New Zealand, the seizure of MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom's possessions was not valid.

TorrentFreak reports that last Friday, Justice Judith Potter declared the order used to seize Dotcom's property "null and void" after it emerged that the court order police acted on should never have been issued in the first place. The story goes that the wrong order was initially applied for. When this was pointed out to the court by prosecution lawyer Anne Toohey, the police attempted to amend the mistake by applying for the correct paperwork and retrospectively adding the list of items already seized.

According to TorrentFreak, the correct order was eventually granted on a temporary basis, but Justice Potter said on Friday that she will soon rule on whether the initial error will mean Dotcom gets his personal belongings back.

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29 Ð

rumandcoke , March 20, 2012 6:56 PM

typical that the laws don't apply to governments themselves
20 Ð

memadmax , March 20, 2012 7:19 PM

The government does whatever it wants........
20 Ð

bobusboy , March 20, 2012 6:26 PM

"..... and retrospectively adding the list of items already seized."

Wouldn't they be acting retroactively not retrospectively?

Other Comments

20 Ð

bobusboy , March 20, 2012 6:26 PM

"..... and retrospectively adding the list of items already seized."

Wouldn't they be acting retroactively not retrospectively?
29 Ð

rumandcoke , March 20, 2012 6:56 PM

typical that the laws don't apply to governments themselves
15 Ð

anonymous@guest , March 20, 2012 7:17 PM

The guy is a goof but he deserves proper treatment under the law. My guess is that the seizure will be declared null and void. The cops will then have to re-apply and will likely get grab the stuff anyway unless he can protect things in the interim.
20 Ð

memadmax , March 20, 2012 7:19 PM

The government does whatever it wants........
13 Ð

rantoc , March 20, 2012 8:01 PM

So they siezed the servers without proper paperwork, that smells huge lawsuit comming. Bringing down a site illegaly like that would throw a normal person in jail for years and become shackeled with the paperchains (money) for the rest of their life.

When the goverment does it its allright or what? What a joke of a "justice" system
2 Ð

A Bad Day , March 20, 2012 8:13 PM

"Cadets, that's why you check your paperwork. Bad things tend to happen when you present the wrong paper to the court."
2 Ð

kinggremlin , March 20, 2012 8:35 PM

As the article mentions, the paperwork error appears to have been a mistake, not an intentional effort to skirt the law. Mistakes happen. The only sketchy part about it was the attempt to add additional items to the seizure request retroactively. However, it is very unlikely any of those items had any relevance to the actual case. A lot of personal property was seized (cars, etc.). That's most likely the type of stuff they are talking about. I find it more than unlikely that the original warrant didn't include the servers which are the actual point of the whole case.
0 Ð

zaznet , March 20, 2012 8:43 PM

They will just have the right warrant to seize the property as they return it to him so he doesn't have time to tamper with any potential evidence.

The problem for law enforcement currently is that they have to stop touching or reviewing any of the evidence until the judge rules on it.
-11 Ð

T-Bone , March 20, 2012 9:01 PM

If you break laws, you will pay the price!
14 Ð

Maxor127 , March 20, 2012 9:04 PM

bobusboy"..... and retrospectively adding the list of items already seized."Wouldn't they be acting retroactively not retrospectively?

I'm so used to reading errors now that my brain automatically corrects them in my head. I thought it already said retroactively.
5 Ð

Pinhedd , March 20, 2012 9:47 PM

rantocSo they siezed the servers without proper paperwork, that smells huge lawsuit comming. Bringing down a site illegaly like that would throw a normal person in jail for years and become shackeled with the paperchains (money) for the rest of their life.When the goverment does it its allright or what? What a joke of a "justice" system

The seizure only applied to his personal property in New Zealand, not his company's property which was mostly in the USA
-9 Ð

woe96 , March 20, 2012 10:29 PM

if he did have pirated stuff on the servers they don't have to give them back cause that illegal
6 Ð

eddieroolz , March 20, 2012 11:08 PM

woe96if he did have pirated stuff on the servers they don't have to give them back cause that illegal

Hows this necessarily illegal? If you plow right through a shopping mall in a Ford SUV is Ford responsible?
3 Ð

salgado18 , March 20, 2012 11:37 PM

rantoc...that smells huge lawsuit comming.

I see what you did there... XD
0 Ð

zachusaman , March 20, 2012 11:42 PM

im suing walmart because the tv they sold me was terrible.
3 Ð

mrmaia , March 20, 2012 11:55 PM

When the FBI finishes copying all of MU's stuff for analysis they'll release Kim and say it was all a big mistake.
6 Ð

silver565 , March 21, 2012 12:22 AM

Being from New Zealand I can tell you that the Americans wandered into our country, put their weight on the government and told them what to do. The sooner they stop pushing us around the better
8 Ð

Northwestern , March 21, 2012 1:13 AM

silver565Being from New Zealand I can tell you that the Americans wandered into our country, put their weight on the government and told them what to do. The sooner they stop pushing us around the better

The sooner The USA can get it's big nose out of everyone's business, the better.
3 Ð

silver565 , March 21, 2012 1:20 AM

NorthwesternThe sooner The USA can get it's big nose out of everyone's business, the better.

Agreed. But to the rest of the world, we're just a small country which has no say.
And the megaupload guy is just another pawn to knock over. If NZ gets in the way... who cares?

Admittedly, I give the U.S huge credit for helping us out in Christchurch, they were one of the first countries here with the heavy lifting equipment which ended up saving lives.
4 Ð

svdb , March 21, 2012 1:41 AM

...because the ones arresting aren't any smarter than the ones arrested...

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Court: MegaUpload Seizure Carried Out on Wrong Paperwork

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