Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom says he’ll appeal to the Supreme Court, saying a Court of Appeal judgement today clearing the way for his extradition to the United States has "the value of toilet paper".
The German-born tech mogul this year asked the Court of Appeal, New Zealand’s second highest court, to overturn a decision approving his extradition, but was this morning turned down.
"A judgement in complete denial of the legislative history and intention of the Copyright Act. Therefore it has the value of toilet paper. We will now appeal to the Supreme Court," Mr Dotcom tweeted.
The Megaupload founder and his three co-accused - Mathias Ortmann, Bran van der Kolk and Finn Botato - were arrested in 2012 in a dramatic police raid and charged with a series of copyright-related offences on behalf of authorities in the US over their roles in running the file-sharing website.
The Court of Appeal said in its judgement: "An extradition hearing is not a trial on the merits, and the evidence relied on by the United States discloses a clear prima facie case to support the allegations that the appellants conspired to, and did, breach copyright wilfully and on a massive scale for commercial gain."
Dotcom said in a statement that to say he's extremely disappointed by the decision of the Court of Appeal is an understatement.
He said the court's interpretation of the relevant copyright provisions cannot be right, and the precedent set has ramifications in New Zealand outside his case.
"The decision exposes Internet Service Providers to criminal liability for the misuse of their services by users, as is claimed against me. This is something that, as any rudimentary review of the legislative history makes clear, and the high court accepted, was never intended. The court was taken through that history but has not referred to it," he said.
"As people will know, I am prepared to fight to get justice, whether it is for me or others. I will appeal to the Supreme Court."
Dotcom said his legal team are confident the Supreme Court will hear the appeal given there are such significant legal issues at stake.
"Many important cases in New Zealand are not won in the Court of Appeal, or in the courts below, but are won when they reach the Supreme Court, My case will be one of those," he said.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has led the case and claims Megaupload was a criminal conspiracy that earned the men $US175 million. If extradited and found guilty in the US, the quartet could face decades in jail.
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