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Viacom v YouTube Lawyer Joins Megaupload Legal Team

According to a report on CNET, Megaupload have made a very interesting addition to their legal team.

Andrew Schapiro, the lawyer who led YouTube to a summary judgment in its copyright trial against Viacom, has come on board and will assist Kim Dotcom and his co-defendants in their case against the US government.

Along with co-accused Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato, Dotcom faces charges in the United States of racketeering, money-laundering and various copyright infringement offenses.

According to his profile on the website of Los Angeles-based Quinn Emanuel Urguhart & Sullivan lawfirm at which he is a partner, Andrew Schapiro has represented technology and media companies including Google, YouTube and Cablevision.

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  • Guest

    WIN WIN WIN

  • ANoi

    Gentlemen….. this is indeed….good news

    GodSpeed Andrew Schapiro

  • http://twitter.com/al_d_25 booda dass

    And now things get interesting :P

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Dilly/1624894683 Don Dilly

    Me thinks especially when you see MAFIAA members trying to scare other locker sites into closure both the MAFIAA and the feds were not expecting Megaupload to put up a fight but rather plea bargain.

    Hirings like this are not made if you are just going to cop a plea.

    I would therefore expect paramount et al to get even nastier towards other lockers.

    The one thing I would like to see for the benefit of megaupload users trying to get their data back is better support from the mega legal team rather than leaving the EFF to do all the running. Afterall if mega is ever going to recover from the unlawful seizure, loyalty to and from affected customers would go a long way.

    • Anonymous

      It hasn’t even gone into plea bargain yet haha.. They need to bring Kim to the US first and how can he plea bargain? He’s got no one to throw under the bus?

      Kim knows he’s going to the US. This is why he has hired these guys in advance to prepare a case. Also he’s spent millions already in advance for these guys to work for him while his assets are still frozen / if his assets are released he will pay with this money up front.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Dilly/1624894683 Don Dilly

        You dont need to be in a position to hand them over other poor schmucks to get a plea bargain. The offer a deal based on not having to go to court to prove their case.

        That is what is wrong with the US ‘Justice’ system. It hands over crippling headline sentences for the feds to threaten people with, in the hope people agree to lesser charges.

        The net result is that you end up with out of control law enforcement as their cases are rarely tested in court.

        Hence my original comments re paramount going rogue and the questionable seizure and shutdown of mega. In a nutshell they werent expecting a fight

  • John Space

    Even the classic Viacom logos reeked of evil. Seriously, look for them on YT.

    Go MegaTeam!

  • Anonymous

    He’s gonna be known as Viacom-Killer if he succeeds.

    GodSpeed to KDM & co.

    Time to kill it. I hope KDM has the $$$ for this guy. He must be EXPENSIVE.

    • Anyone

      once his assets are unfrozen he has the money

      that is just more motivation for the lawyers to win, if they lose it will be hard for them to get paid.

  • Guest
    • Stephen Fry

      that’s _old_ news :P

      • Nadia

        yes but it brings up the point that mafiaa and friends actively set up this whole thing and showed you what you can get to later come back and want to close down the internet. Get with the program…. Thanks for posting the torrentfreak ref link, I didn’t check the rest but good job.

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