ISSUE:
Whether the common law’s Wilful Blindness doctrine be used to show knowledge or awareness of specific instances of infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?
RULE:
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA's) safe harbor mandates knowledge or information of specific infringing behaviour. Under the DMCA, evidence of knowledge or awareness of particular instances of infringement may be presented in accordance with the common law wilful blindness theory.
The Wilful Blindness doctrine permits courts to tell juries that they may convict a Defendant under a legislation that calls for the Defendant to do something deliberately by demonstrating either that the Defendant acted with knowledge of, or that he was wilfully blind to, the pertinent fact at issue.