After 15 years, the ice cream wars are over. Unilever has lost a final appeal against a competition ruling by the European Commission that found it had abused its dominant position in the Irish ice cream market.

A recent order by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found there were no valid legal grounds to appeal the ruling. The court also ordered Unilever to pay legal costs in the case, which are likely to run into millions of euro, given the length of the proceedings. Unilever said last night that the ruling would have no effect on its Irish ice cream business. It cannot appeal the judgment.

The decision by Europe's highest court to throw out the appeal marks the end of a 15-year legal battle in the Republic, which became known as the "ice cream wars".

These "wars" began in the early 1980s when Masterfoods, whose products include the Mars, Snickers and Galaxy brands, attempted to expand into the Irish market. At that time, HB Ice Cream, which was owned by Unilever, dominated the market and had signed exclusivity deals with thousands of retailers. These deals meant that retailers could only stock products made by HB in freezers supplied by Unilever.

Masterfoods challenged the deals in the High Court and made a complaint to the European Commission on the grounds that it was an abuse of its dominant position.

The commission took up the case on behalf of Masterfoods and took a case against Unilever to the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. The commission argued in court that many small retailers in the Republic would only have enough space for one freezer to stock ice cream and the exclusivity deals between retailers and Unilever prevented Masterfoods from competing effectively in the Irish market. In 2003, the commission won the case at the European Court of First Instance.