Back in August 2024, I commented on Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s decision to surrender larger-than-life Kim Dotcom to the U.S. authorities in relation to charges that his company, Megaupload, had engaged in copyright infringement, money laundering, and racketeering.

At the time, I suggested that a judicial review application was likely. That turned out to be the case. On 10 September 2025, Justice Grice delivered a 59-page decision in Kim Dotcom v Minister of Justice [2025] NZHC 2634, declining the application for judicial review.

The Court found at [139] that there was no evidential basis to support the argument that the US was attempting to deprive Mr Dotcom of the safe harbours available under the New Zealand Copyright Act and at [138] that there was no evidence to support the allegations that the US had acted in bad faith, nor to appease copyright holders.

Grice J went on to point out at [140] that the Minister was not required to satisfy himself, beyond reasonable doubt, that Mr Dotcom had committed copyright offences in New Zealand before surrendering him to the United States. Instead, the Minister had to determine whether to surrender him under s 30 of the Extradition Act and to satisfy himself that the requirements of the Act had been met.

Mr Dotcom has until 8 October 2025 to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Such an appeal seems inevitable as Mr Dotcom will no doubt exhaust all his appeal rights before, one day being compelled to get on a flight to the land of the free and the brave. But then again, maybe not.