MegaUpload had a pretty successful day in court: they got most of what they wanted, as far as user data preservation, from a ruling by U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady. In short, the Judge has agreed that the data needs to be preserved, at least for now. He has sent the interested parties back into negotiations to come to a compromise.

Unless the interested parties wanted to hire a mediator, or "special master," the judge will send them to a magistrate judge known for "bringing people together." If you're rooting for MegaUpload, like me, or have data on the service, this ruling is good. If you're rooting for the MPAA, government, or others, you may not be so happy.

It appears, from the Judge's demeanor, that he is unlikely to make a ruling which would result in the loss of the data. It seems as though most of the interested parties want the data preserved, they just can't seem to agree on how or who should pay for it. At least for now, the data is safe and Carpathia is still stuck footing the bill.