Carpathia Hosting, the hosting solutions company that was used to store the data on the former file-sharing site Megaupload, made a statement this week indicating it has been unable to figure out what to do with the Megaupload data on its servers, and is seeking a federal ruling on the matter. The data has been kept in a legal and financial limbo since the site was shut down by authorities in January. Carpathia is still bearing the cost of hosting the data on its servers, yet is unsure of the legal ramifications of deleting it.

To resolve this dilemma, the company has filed a motion in federal court. In the statement, Chief Marketing Officer of Carpathia Hosting Brian Winter said:

“While Carpathia has never had access to the data on Megaupload servers and has had no mechanism for returning that data to Megaupload users, we have been attempting over many weeks to resolve this matter to the satisfaction of all parties involved, in a manner that would allow for Megaupload users to be in a position to ultimately recover their data. Despite our best efforts, the parties have been unable to work out a voluntary solution that meets the concerns of all the various parties who have claimed an interest in Megaupload’s data. As a result, Carpathia has filed a motion in federal court seeking the court’s guidance on how to proceed in resolving this matter.”

The Associated Press is reporting that Carpathia is spending $9,000 per day to host the data. In the filing the company seeks a court hearing next month to allow the company to either transfer the data to another party, be paid compensation until all of the legal issues have been cleared up, or delete the data after allowing users access to it for a brief period.

After the arrest of Kim Dotcom and the shutdown of Megaupload there were cries from users worried that all the files they had stored with Megaupload might be destroyed. The urge for users to get their data back might have been tempered, though, by the recent news that the MPAA also wants their data – to sue them .