On February 6, 2007, the European Court of First Instance issued its decision concerning an opposition brought by TDK KABUSHIKI KAISHA on the basis of the reputation of its marks TDK, covering products of class 9, against Community word trademark application for TDK in class 25.
The Court admitted that the earlier rights were reputed trademarks and considered that the sponsorship activities of TDK KABUSHIKI KAISHA especially in sports clothing, and the impossibility to rule out that the mark applied for could be used for sports clothing would lead consumers to believe that such clothing is manufactured by or under licenses from TDK Corp.
This was regarded as self-sufficient to evidence of a future risk of the taking of an unfair advantage of the reputation of the earlier marks by the Community trademark application.