Turning to the specific way of calculation of the limitation period under Art. 72 UPCA, claims for financial compensation must not be asserted more than five years after the date on which the applicant became aware of the last fact justifying the action. The specific calculation of the limitation period is to be carried out according to Rules 300 et seqq. of the Rules of Procedure (RoP).
The limitation period must be calculated for every single fact separately. In the event of an ongoing infringement, only claims based on acts committed more than five years earlier can become statute-barred.
Art. 72 UPCA makes refences to the knowledge of the applicant, not the knowledge of the creditor. This is different under national German law: There, the standard limitation period of three years starts at the end of the year in which the claim arose and the creditor gained knowledge or should have gained knowledge of the circumstances establishing the claim – so-called relative limitation period.
Since the UPCA is to be interpreted autonomously, a recourse to national law for alleged gaps in the provisions of the UPCA is prohibited – e.g., for the suspension and/or interruption of the limitation period, which are not provided for by the UPCA. Rather, the case-law of the UPCA will have to establish a uniform practice.
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