Megaupload Gains Access to Evidence in Copyright Infringement Case

File sharing website Megaupload has been granted access to evidence that was confiscated after police raided the site for illegal activity.

A New Zealand high court gave founder Kim Dotcom the right to see evidence-including computers, hard drives and documents-that authorities nabbed in the January 2012 sweep of the site.

Authorities have accused Megaupload of reaping huge monetary benefits from torrent downloading and online piracy, as the site hosts files that users can share. This includes music and movies acquired through illegal channels.

The FBI subsequently raided the site, forcing Megaupload to shut down. Police seized domain names, and any sites that were associated with Megaupload closed immediately.

According to the BBC, Mr. Dotcom testified in court that he could not give a proper defense against police because he could not see the evidence they had.

Mr. Dotcom claimed that his site was merely a storage service that had little control over what its users shared. He said he should not be held accountable for their subversive behavior. He has been battling charges of extradition to the United States, along with copyright infringement, since 2012.

New Zealand authorities must now revisit the cache of evidence they seized in the raid, and give Mr. Dotcom back any items considered "irrelevant" to the case, the BBC reported. Additionally, any copies that investigators made of the evidence must be thrown away.

All information deemed "relevant" to the case must be given to Mr. Dotcom's lawyers for review. His legal team has apparently been asking for access to the information for months, while they get ready for Dotcom's hearing in August.

Megaupload was first established in 2005.

Following his Megaupload site shut down, Mr. Dotcom, whose real name is Kim Schmidt, began another online file sharing site called Mega, under the domain name mega.co.nz.