Crown lawyers say internet entrepreneur Kim
Dotcom should not receive additional compensation because no one was
misled about the purpose of the search of his Coatesville estate.
At the High Court in Auckland this morning,
Crown lawyer David Boldt said if anyone was to read the search warrant
as well as the arrest warrant they would know "it was not only talking
about a general breach of copyright".
"If that was the only problem, no additional relief should be appropriate. No harm was actually done," he said.
A hearing before Justice Winkelmann continued today regarding additional compensation and return of seized items.
It was earlier found the search warrant used was too general and noted only a breach of copyright.
Mr Boldt said even Dotcom, while giving evidence at a
hearing in August last year and in an affidavit, said he understood the
alleged copyright breach was about the activities of his website
Megaupload.
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He asked Justice
Winkelmann to "imagine the perfect warrant" and "how, in practical
terms, would it have been different to what actually happened".
Dotcom's
lawyers are also asking for the return of items seized during the
search, including clones of hard drives sent overseas.
Mr
Boldt said it was difficult for investigators to sift through the large
amount of data to determine what was relevant to the case.
"Just
about anything which has digital storage capacity could contain
relevant material, including entertainment systems. That needs to be
looked at in terms of its relevance before a decision is made to return
it," he said.
He asked Justice Winkelmann to consider only the "items at the margins" of what was seized in her decision about compensation.
Core items which would have been taken regardless of the validity of the search warrant should not be considered, he said.
Dotcom's lawyers will respond to the Crown submissions on Thursday.
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