In the us there is a 3 year statute of limitations by law. A 2014 supreme court decision stated that "laches" could still be applied in very narrow cases.
Copyright and other laws will be different for other countries.
There's also the possibility of competing interests. There's no "wrong" answer, but people will argue certain facts to persuade others to take their position. This is called "politics."
I haven't had to take a driving test in over 20 years. Only once I had to take a multiple choice test on the meaning of various signs and you get three chances to pass it. It's absolutely absurd that they allow people to get their license at 16 and rarely have to retake a driving test.