Dotcom's properties were seized in Dec. 2012. The U.S. is seeking his extradition on criminal charges. Dotcom is fighting that request in the New Zealand Courts. In July, 2014, the U.S. initiated a civil forfeiture action against his assets. In February, 2015, the Virginia court said he has no right to access the courts in the U.S. to defend against the civil forfeiture actions because of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine. In March, 2015, the U.S. was granted a default judgment against his assets (available here.) Since most of the assets are in New Zealand and Hong Kong, the order stated all the NZ assets were to be forfeited to the NZ Crown. The Crown sought to register the judgments in New Zealand. Dotcom filed a proceeding to stop the registration. The Crown argued, among other things, that the U.S. court had barred his ability to access the courts for relief under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine.

This week the New Zealand court ruled the U.S. court's application of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine is inapplicable in New Zealand. Kim Dotcom is fighting the extradition attempt in the New Zealand courts. Thus, it granted Dotcom's request to stop the registration process with respect to the U.S. forfeiture judgments. However, this is only a temporary reprieve, pending further judicial review of the judgments. From the ruling:

"It is, I think, self evident from the above discussion that the plaintiffs have a substantial position to preserve and there will be ve