The court said it had declined "applications for leave to adduce further evidence on appeal" filed by the founder of the file-sharing Megaupload website and three co-defendants – Mathias Ortmann, Bram Van Der Kolk and Finn Habib Batato.
Kim Dotcom said in a statement, published on his Twitter page, that he was "extremely disappointed" by the court’s decision and promised to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
My statement about the disappointing judgement by the NZ Court of Appealhttps://t.co/7NFqGoSWIl
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) 5 июля 2018 г.
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.
According to the ruling, the site experienced enormous growth since 2008, generating over $175 million in revenues, and at one point accounted for four percent of global internet traffic, offering content to some 50 million users daily. It was eventually shut down in 2012.
The United States has been seeking the extradition of Dotcom and his executives since 2012 on 13 charges, including fraud and copyright infringement. The latter is not considered a crime worthy of extradition in New Zealand, even though US authorities claim copyright owners lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to Megaupload's illegal activities. Dotcom is likely to face a 20-year prison sentence in the US over the piracy charges.