The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia plans to serve Dotcom and other officers of the company with the summons after they are extradited to the U.S. from New Zealand and other countries, the DOJ said.

But Ira Rothken, one of Megaupload's lawyers, said the DOJ is asserting broad new jurisdiction over foreign companies with this case. U.S. courts have allowed charges against foreign individuals, "but corporations are different than individuals," Rothken said.

The question of whether U.S. courts can charge foreign corporations with crimes is an "important public policy issue dealing with national sovereignty" that the U.S. Congress should decide, Rothken said.

"Since almost every corporate entity around the world uses servers in the United States ... there would no corporate entity that would be off limits to overzealous U.S. prosectors" if the DOJ's case holds up, he said.

Prosectors should have to show that a company has a physical presence in the U.S. before charging the company in a U.S. court, he said.