Apple fined $2m over misleading iPad 4G claim

Updated

Apple has been fined more than $2 million for misleading consumers by claiming that its latest iPad was compatible with the next generation 4G broadband network.

Apple misled the public with claims in its advertising implying that the "iPad with WiFi + 4G", could connect directly to the Telstra LTE mobile data network in Australia, which it could not, Federal Court Justice Mordy Bromberg found.

In a judgement delivered this morning, he said the company engaged in conduct liable to mislead the public and contravened Australian consumer law.

Justice Bromberg fined Apple $2.25 million and ordered it pay $300,000 in costs.

Earlier this week, the court slapped internet service provider TPG with a $2 million fine for a long-running series of misleading advertisements promising ADSL2+ broadband for $29.99 a month.

The catch was that customers had to pay another $30 per month for phone line rental, plus set-up fees that in some cases were not disclosed in the ads at all.

In the Apple case, Justice Bromberg said the most concerning aspect of the contravention was the deliberate nature of Apple's misleading conduct.

"Apple does not seek to deny the deliberateness of its conduct and there are no facts before me which seek to excuse or explain the conduct, other than that the conduct occurred at the behest of Apple's parent company ... Apple Inc," he said.

The same campaign "iPad with WiFi + 4G" was used worldwide, the judgment said.

Justice Bromberg said Apple was first told the device was not compatible with the Telstra 4G network on March 8 this year.

The risk of contravention of Australian consumer law would have been "reasonably obvious" to those at Apple familiar with the Australian market's understanding of the term 4G, he said.

"In that context, and in the absence of any other explanation, the facts to which I have just referred, suggest that Apple's desire for global uniformity was given a greater priority than the need to ensure compliance with the Australian consumer law," Justice Bromberg said.

"Conduct of that kind is serious and unacceptable."

ABC/AAP

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, internet-technology, consumer-protection, telecommunications, business-economics-and-finance, australia

First posted