[iii] Statutes of Limitations; Equitable Defenses. To govern time limits for bringing actions, Section 102 of the Copyright Act itself refers back to Sections 194 et seq. of the German Civil Code (BGB). While the rights to injunctions and damages under Section 97 expire three years from the point in time at which the injured party received knowledge or constructive knowledge of the damages at issue and of the identity of the infringing party, a claim to exercise these rights may not be made more than 10 years or, at the latest, more than 30 years after the commission of the infringing act. Claims for unjust enrichment are also subject to a statute of limitation of 10 years, at the utmost, of 30 years.8)_and_footnotes(n191);.vk n191
The case law recognizes the defense of Verwirkung, which roughly corresponds to certain equitable defenses in Anglo-American law, such as laches and estoppel. In the ''Sherlock Holmes'' case, the Federal Court of Justice stated that this defense is only a special form of the defense of misuse of rights.8)_and_footnotes(n192);.vk n192 As a general matter, however, copyright claims put at issue the special value of creative achievements and, correspondingly, demand a careful weighing of the interests of the copyright owners and the infringers. In another decision, the court in principle admitted that this defense may be available in rare copyright cases where the copyright owner admittedly tolerated infringement generally, but it did not allow the defense in this case where the owner only declared that he would not take action against every possible infringement.8)_and_footnotes(n193);.vk n193