The EU Court of First Instance states that a claim for the performance of a contractual obligation could amount to abuse where the claim exceeds what the parties could reasonably expect under the contract (ITT Promedia)

Case T-111/96 ITT Promedia NV v Commission of the European Communities 1. The ability to assert one's rights through the courts and the judicial control which that entails constitutes the expression of the general principle of law which underlies the constitutional traditions common to the Member States and which is also aid down in Articles 6 and 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. As access to the courts is a fundamental right and a general principle ensuring the rule of law, it is only in wholly exceptional circumstances that the fact that legal proceedings are brought is capable of constituting an abuse of a dominant position within the meaning of Article 86 of the Treaty. Where the Commission has set out two cumulative