It will be six months before court proceedings get under way to extradite the Auckland-based founder of the Megaupload website and his three co-accused to the United States.
Kim Dotcom, the 38-year-old German founder of the file sharing website, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk appeared in North Shore District on Wednesday to set a date for their extradition hearing.
They face charges in the US of racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering.
The court heard that the US government is yet to file the necessary extradition papers.
They must be filed by March 5, in line with provisions in the extradition treaty between New Zealand and the US.
The four accused have been remanded until August 20, which is the provisional start date for the extradition hearing, which could take three weeks.
The judge and lawyers for the Crown and defence will have a teleconference on March 15, after the necessary paper work has been filed, to assess where matters are at.
Earlier today Dotcom was granted bail after being held in custody since a spectacular police raid on his $30-million mansion north of Auckland.
Judge Nevin Dawson said flight risk was no longer a sufficient concern to keep Dotcom in custody as it had been determined he did not have access to funds. His three co-accused were earlier granted bail.
Dotcom will be bailed to a property next to the Coatesville mansion.
As part of the conditions of his electronically-monitored bail, Dotcom will not be able to access the internet and helicopters will not be allowed to visit the property.
The Crown has indicated the bail decision will be appealed.
NZN