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The UMG defence, at the United States District Court of Northern District of California, made no reference to copyright infringement. It did not point to the content or the artists, instead relying on a special over-ride agreement between UMG and YouTube. It emerged that the “UMG-YouTube agreement” gave “UMG rights to effect the removal of user-posted videos”. The rights to remove videos were “not limited to the infringements of copyrights owned or controlled by UMG”. The defence, from UMG’s perspective, was that it did it because it could. It had a contract which allowed control over the content of others, regardless of copyright.

Dotcom labeled UMG’s takedown rights a “licence to kill . . . In an act of comedy they are trying to tell the court that this wasn’t a DMCA take down at all. It was some kind of magical take down that is not covered by any law.”

Dotcom saw an opportunity to push back. UMG’s aggression and will to exert its power was in tune with his frustrations over false takedown notices and the guerilla warfare employed by copyright holders against the cyberlocker industry. “I saw this then as an opportunity to make this a case about how they sabotage the DMCA, how they are not fulfilling their obligations. We had this whole plan together — how we are going to attack them, not just making this a case about our own video but any others, including service providers, who say ‘look at their attitude, look how they are not complying with the DMCA’.”

This is the behaviour of a decaying business model, Dotcom wrote in Torrent Freak, “run by arrogant and outdated dinosaurs . . . These guys think an iPad is a facial treatment, the Internet is the devil, and wired phones are still hip. They are in denial about the new realities and opportunities.”

Dotcom’s 18 December 2011 column used similar language to that employed after the raid. The US political apparatus was accused of collusion with the recording industry and Hollywood. “They are buying politicians to go against the people, freedom and innovation,” he told Torrent Freak. “They want to censor the Internet and bring innovation to a standstill by having their rip-off monopoly protected by Washington. They want to intimidate innovators and take all of us back in time. But I am telling you, these guys should soon be history, just like cheap oil, because they underestimate the power of the people, the power of the Internet and the power of innovation.” Fight against SOPA and PIPA, he said. “As you read this the payroll politicians of the MPAA and RIAA are trying to take control of your Internet.”

As for Megaupload, Dotcom was not troubled. The company was in no danger. It had money and the law on its side.

“Our business is legitimate and protected by the DMCA and similar laws around the world. We work with the best lawyers and play by the

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