May 31st, 2012
The lawyers for file-sharing firm Megaupload are attempting to get the copyright infringement case against the company quashed and assets unfrozen. The company's legal team claims that US federal authorities have no right to charge the company, as it is outside their jurisdiction, since it is a Hong Kong-based firm. Lawyers also claim that no papers were formally served, which means Megaupload could get off on a technicality of law, rather than its proposed innocence. "This case was flawed from the start, once this case gets dismissed it cannot be fixed," said Ira Rothken, US general counsel for Megaupload, who specialises in intellectual property lawsuits. He said the FBI had made a fatal mistake in its case against the file-sharing company by not following proper protocol.
Published by: VR-Zone
EU to bring Germany to court over not storing user data Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/eu-to-bring-germany-to-court-overnot-storing-user-data/16105.html May 31st, 2012
The European Commission is bringing Germany to court over failing to store telephone and email data for a six month period, as required under European Union laws. The European Commission is bringing Germany to court over failing to store telephone and email data for a six month period, as required under European Union laws. The Commission is seeking a fine from the European Court of Justice against Berlin for not implementing the 2006 EU directive, which requires telecommunications companies to store phone records and internet logs for at least six months so that police can more easily investigate crimes. The directive was to be implemented in a new German law, but in March 2010 the country's highest court overturned the law, calling it a grave intrusion to the right to privacy. The court called for the law to be revised so that it did not infringe upon the rights of individuals. Narrower legislation has since been proposed, but the Commission said that this would not fully comply with the EU directive.
Rothken is also seeking for frozen assets, totalling millions of dollars, to be freed up. This was a strong criticism from the start, as lawyers for Megaupload claimed that it and its staff were being prevented from properly defending itself due to the freezing of its money. The popular storage website was shut down in January when the home of Kim Dotcom, Megaupload's founder, was raided by New Zealand police. He and several of the company's executives were arrested and attempts to extradite them to the US were made. The situation caused panic throughout the file-sharing world, with many similar websites shutting down over fear of similar prosecution. Dotcom and other key employees face charges of racketeering, copyright infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering. A judge ruled in March that the court order used to seize a number of Dotcom's belongings was unlawful, and this latest claim by the Megaupload's lawyers suggests the entire case may become another farce in the history of botched lawsuits.
"Ongoing delays in transposing the directive into national law are likely to have a negative effect on the internal market for electronic communications and on the ability of police and justice authorities to detect, investigate and prosecute serious crime," the Commission said, according to the Associated Press. The Commission is hoping to secure a fine of â‚Ź315,000 for every day that Germany fails to comply with the EU law, starting with the day of the court ruling. If secured this could add up to millions if the country's Chancellor, Angela 2