Lawyers for the US government say attempts to have internet piracy charges against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom thrown out are a waste of time.
German-born Dotcom, who the United States wants to extradite from New Zealand to face piracy charges, is arguing in a US court that the US has no jurisdiction over the Hong Kong-based cloud storage service.
But the US Attorney's office argues that defence is a waste of time and resources, CNET reports.
It says some of Megaupload's lawyers have conflicts of interest - representing in the past some of the witnesses and victims, including Google, Disney, Time Warner and Paramount Pictures.
Neil MacBride, US Attorney for Eastern District of Virginia, compared Megaupload's request that more of the company's money be returned to "returning money to a bank robber".
Hollywood film studios say that Megaupload enabled millions of people around the world to store pirated movies and TV shows in the company's digital lockers.
Meanwhile, a New Zealand high court judge has effectively halted a previous court decision to allow Dotcom and his three co-accused access to some of the information that will be used against them in an extradition hearing scheduled for August.
An urgent two-day judicial review has been ordered, although a date is yet to be set.
In the meantime US government lawyers must prepare the information so it can be handed over if the review rules in favour of the Megaupload group.
When New Zealand police raided Dotcom's mansion north of Auckland earlier this year at the request of the US, FBI agents seized a massive 150 terabytes of data.
Dotcom is also waiting on a decision on a High Court judicial review seeking the return of 135 computer and data storage devices, challenging the legality of the search warrants used to seize them.
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