The battle between the US and Kim Dotcom over whether he should face criminal copyright charges is coming to a screen near you.

No, the movie rights haven't been sold (yet). The Internet mogul who ran the once-dominant cyberlocker site Megaupload has won the right to livestream his next court battle online.

Dotcom was arrested and charged in 2012, but the battle over whether he can be extradited from his home in New Zealand has dragged on. In December, a New Zealand judge finally said that Dotcom should be sent to the Eastern District of Virginia to face federal charges that he facilitated copyright infringement by promoting piracy on his website.

But Dotcom gets another appeal hearing, which starts tomorrow and is estimated to last six weeks. The proceedings will be livestreamed on YouTube, with a 20-minute delay so that the court can take out any confidential information. The camera operator will be paid for by Dotcom. The New Zealand judge asked other media about livestreaming and heard no objections, according to a report in The Associated Press.

"It provides everybody in the world with a seat in the gallery of the New Zealand courtroom," Dotcom's lawyer Ira Rothken told The Associated Press. "It's democracy at its finest."

Lawyers representing the US declined to comment to AP.

Whatever the result of the appeal, it's a PR victory for Dotcom and his surrogates.

"Live streaming of my hearing is a milestone," Dotcom said on Twitter. We're breaking new ground. Please treat the court with respect. Let's make this the new normal."

The US government says Megaupload received more than $150 million in payments for "premium subscriptions" and paid $3 million to the site's biggest uploaders. Dotcom attorney Rothken has argued that "secondary" copyright infringement isn't a criminal offense under US law.

Dotcom and three of his colleagues are fighting to stay in New Zealand. However, The Guardian reported that even if he loses the extradition appeal, he will take "further legal steps to avoid standing trial."