RIAA sues Kim Dotcom and other MegaUpload representatives

File-sharing site MegaUpload has been shutdown for more than two years but the legal action against the service have continued to roll in. The newest organization to jump in the fray is the Recording Industry Association of America: The group is suing MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom, technical officer Matthias Ortmann, programmer Bram van der Folk and major shareholder Vestor Limited.

The RIAA alleges that MegaUpload "willfully engaged in, actively encouraged, and handsomely profited from massive copyright infringement of music on the Megaupload service."

"Megaupload Limited played an active role in ensuring that it had the most popular content on its servers, that the URL links to those infringing content files were widely disseminated on the Internet, and that the links were advertised and promoted by pirate linking sites, so that the maximum number of Megaupload users would access the infringing content," the lawsuit reads.

The timing of this lawsuit isn't exactly coincidental. The Motion Picture Association of America brought a case of its own against MegaUpload for virtually the same charges. Both organizations claim that website honchos such as Dotcom brought in $175 million while costing copyright owners more than $500 million. No word on how those associations will determine how much they're owed, but you can be sure their lawyers will ask for more than the $500 million total. RIAA will split its winnings among major record labels, although there's no good way to indicate who gets what.

Dotcom is a resident of New Zealand, where he'll remain until the United States can convince the country to extradite him to face charges.