The CEO of Fortnite-maker Epic Games said Tuesday the company's court battle to open up Apple's iPhone to alternative app stores was lost after the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

The high court announced it would not hear appeals by either Apple or Epic in the long-running case, effectively putting an end to the legal saga.

Epic in 2020 launched a case aiming to break Apple's grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of operating a monopoly in its shop for digital services.

Apple takes a cut of as much as 30 percent on all financial transactions in its app shop, prompting complaints about an unfair "tax" for companies.

A federal court in San Francisco overwhelmingly rejected the lawsuit, offering only a concession that apps could indicate to users other ways of paying for services outside of Apple's ecosystem.

Both companies launched appeals, which worked themselves through the appellate process up to the Supreme Court.

"The Supreme Court denied both sides' appeals of the Epic v. Apple antitrust case," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said on X, formerly Twitter.

"The court battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all developers," he said.

Sweeney said it was now up to governments and regulators to order that Apple make its iPhones allow new payment systems.

He praised the European Union's Digital Markets Act, which will do that in Europe starting on March 7.

Epic last month won a similar court battle in the United States against Google when a jury decided that the search engine giant wields illegal monopoly power through its Android app store.

© 2024 AFP