Court fight for Megaupload user

A Megaupload user who lost his data when the site was shutdown in January is fighting to retrieve his files in a legal first.

American businessman Kyle Goodwin, assisted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has taken the case to a U.S. District Court judge, with briefings expected next week.

Goodwin's claims have been before the courts for months however, as Foundation lawyer Julie Samuels told Radio New Zealand this morning.

"It is pretty straight forward ... There are some logistical concerns about how you actually get the data off the servers, how you identify the data, but we think this is the US Government's responsibility and something the US Government should have taken into account when it seized all of Megaupload's assets and executed the search warrants on those servers.

"There are innocent third party users who did not breach the law, and they would like their stuff back.''

The case, unprecedented in America, could see Goodwin become the first of many Megaupload users seeking their data back after the site's shutdown.