Facts
The Gesamtverband der deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft (the plaintiff) accuses A. (the defendant), a fire protection expert, of having, in 1991, transmitted without its authorization and for remuneration to the company Centrafeu AG a program he had developed for the calculation of CO2 fire extinguishing systems, thus infringing its copyright. The plaintiff filed a complaint on 15 August 1997 claiming payment of 28,000 DM plus interest. The District Court of St. Gallen dismissed the claim. The SCC partially upheld the plaintiff's appeal and remanded the case to the lower instance for re-examination.Considerations
According to the SCC, the plaintiff's claims based on an unlawful act or unjust enrichment are subject to a one-year limitation period from the time the damage and the perpetrator became known (Art. 60(1) and 67(1) CO). Although the three-year criminal limitation period provided for in Art. 51(1) of the former CopA was longer, it had also expired at the time the complaint was filed in 1997.
However, the claim for restitution of unlawful profits under Art. 423(1) CO is not…