RYANAIR’S chief financial officer has said plans for the airline to operate long-haul flights is on hold for the moment but it could use a takeover of Aer Lingus for such an expansion.

UK package holiday company MyTravel today lost a claim for compensation against the European Commission for blocking a merger with rival tour operator First Choice.

THE Supreme Court will give judgement today on the appeal by BUPA against the High Court’s rejection of its challenge to the risk equalisation scheme (RES).

Ryanair tonight slammed a new European Commission investigation into its operations as “spurious and baseless”.

VIVAS Health has expressed disappointment at the decision byt the European Court of First Instance to dismiss Bupa's challenge of risk equalisation in Ireland.

AER LINGUS GROUP PLC yesterday got its first chance to tell a European court why it should freeze larger competitor Ryanair Holdings Plc’s shareholder voting rights in Aer Lingus for as much as two years.

Ryanair has today lodged its fifth case in recent weeks in the European Court of First Instance against what the airline claims is the European Commission’s repeated failure to investigate state aid to national flag carrier airlines.

European judges will rule tomorrow in a legal battle that could change the way the world’s biggest computer software company does business.

RYANAIR has told Aer Lingus staff the Government’s shareholding in the company has taken €40 million from their pension fund.

THE European Court of First Instance has confirmed a multi-million euro fine for the main French beef federations representing farmers and slaughterers.

Shares in EMI rose 2% today following a report that the music group is expected to shun a private-equity bid worth £2.5bn (€3.7bn).

Shares in music giant EMI tumbled today after a European court ruling cast doubt over a possible trans-Atlantic merger with US rival Warner.

TWO men targeted by the Irish and British Governments under international anti-terrorist measures yesterday lost their European legal battle to be removed from a list of suspects.

Microsoft Corp filed a formal complaint with EU antitrust regulators today, alleging the European Commission withheld documents and secretly colluded with rival companies and an independent monitor shortly before the EU charged the Microsoft had not obeyed an earlier ruling.

Microsoft Corp.’s legal challenge to the EU’s 2004 antitrust ruling will be heard by the European Court of First Instance on April 24-28, the court said yesterday.

European airlines today lost a legal bid that aimed to strike down new EU rules guaranteeing passengers compensation for flight delays or cancellations.

A company that specialises in anti-counterfeiting technology claims Europe’s common currency infringes on a patent obtained from a New York inventor’s family.

Westlife have lost their five-year court battle to trademark the band's name - after a judge ruled Westlife is too similar to a German tobacco company's protected brand name, West.

Irish boyband Westlife lost a case in a European Union court today against the owners of Germany’s popular West cigarette brand who challenged the use of the group’s name as a trademark.

French cosmetics giant L’Oreal failed to overturn a European Union trade mark ruling that favoured its US rival Revlon.

The EU struck at the commercial backbone of Microsoft’s global software empire today – forcing the company for the first time to strip its Windows platform of a popular feature to give competitors a better shot at success.

A European Union court ruled today that Microsoft will have to abide immediately by an EU ruling that forces the software giant to change its commercial practices before the appeals procedure runs its full course.

“IS it now a crime to be a conservative in Europe?” asked RTÉ’s Áine Lawlor last week. We must wait a week or more before we know the answer to that.

Microsoft is ready to put a stripped-down version of Windows on the market if it fails this week to persuade a judge to suspend a landmark EU antitrust decision.

A European Union court has reduced fines on eight steel firms over price fixing.

Microsoft has appealed against the EU’s landmark antitrust decision at the European Court of First Instance, charging the ruling would undermine innovation and growth.

The EU’s competition chief expressed confidence today that his landmark decision against Microsoft would withstand a court challenge due this week, even as his US counterpart renewed criticism of the order.

RYANAIR plans to appeal a ruling by the European Commission that the airline received illegal financial subsidies from Charleroi airport in Belgium.

The Iseq index of Irish shares was up 11.33 points to 5192.20 in early-morning trade.

Ryanair has launched an appeal against an “anti-competitive” ruling over subsidies for using a Belgian airport, it was announced today.

Low-cost airline Ryanair is set to launch its appeal against the European Commission's ruling that it received illegal state aid at Charleroi airport in May, according to a report in the Financial Times.

NO-FRILLS airline Ryanair has shrugged off the recent European Commission decision that threatened its routes to and from Charleroi airport near Brussels, by striking a new deal with the regional authority that owns the airport.

A statement from the court press office of the European Court of First Instance, says that it has upheld a European Commission decision to fine British Airways PLC €6.8m for antitrust abuse.

The European Court of First Instance has annulled a €30.96m fine imposed by the European Commission on Volkswagen AG for fixing prices of its Passat model in Germany.

Unilever PLC has lost its appeal at the European Court of First Instance against the European Commission's decision to fine the company for stopping its distributors in Ireland from selling competitors' ice creams.