Opera loses court challenge against EU exemption of Microsoft's Edge from DMA rules

By Foo Yun Chee and Sudip Kar-Gupta

BRUSSELS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Norwegian browser maker Opera on Wednesday lost its court challenge against EU antitrust regulators' decision to exempt Microsoft's browser Edge from rules reining in the power of Big Tech.

The European Commission in its 2024 decision said Edge was not an important gateway for businesses to reach users even though it met the quantitative criteria set out under the Digital Markets Act which sets out a list of dos and don'ts for Big Tech.

Opera argued that the Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, had misapplied the criteria.

The Luxembourg-based General Court sided with the EU antitrust watchdog which has notched a string of court victories over its DMA decisions, raising the bar for legal challenges.

"The General Court upholds the Commission's decision not to designate Microsoft as a gatekeeper in relation to Edge," judges said.

They said the EU enforcer did not err by accepting Microsoft's 'sufficiently substantiated arguments to demonstrate that Edge did not constitute an important gateway'.

Opera has long been at loggerheads with Microsoft. Its 2007 complaint about its U.S. rival led to a €561 million EU antitrust fine against Microsoft in 2013 for failing to offer users a choice of Web browser.

The case is T-357/24 Opera Norway v Commission.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Louise Heavens)