Apple's "4G" marketing for its new iPad has backfired in Australia, where the company will now pay a fine of AUS$2.25 million for misleading consumers. An Australian federal court held a hearing on Friday morning wherein Apple agreed to pay the fine—in addition to AUS$300,000 in commission costs—just a couple months after the third-generation iPad's launch.

The agreement follows a complaint brought by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) over how Apple marketed the third-gen iPad's wireless capabilities. The ACCC had argued that Apple's promotion of the iPad as offering WiFi + 4G in Australia is "misleading because it represents to Australian consumers that the product 'iPad with WiFi + 4G' can, with a SIM card, connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia, when this is not the case."

Indeed, the new iPad's 4G/LTE capabilities are only supported by Verizon and AT&T in the US, and on Bell, Rogers, and Telus in Canada. When not on any of those networks, the iPad uses 3G to send and receive data. Apple attempted to mitigate this confusion by putting stickers on its iPad boxes in some countries (see the image at the top of this post), as well as including a warning on the online Apple store:

The iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G model can roam worldwide on fast GSM/UMTS networks, including HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA. When you travel internationally, you can use a micro-SIM card from a local carrier. You can also connect to the 4G LTE networks of AT&T in the U.S. and Bell, Rogers, and Telus in Canada.

Despite this, the ACCC cited sections of Australian Consumer Law that prohibit false or misleading representations about products using a "particular standard" or have "performance characteristics" that they don't actually have. Apple first tried to offer refunds to Australian consumers who were disappointed in their lack of 4G/LTE support, but apparently decided it was better to pay the fine and put the case to rest.

"The term 4G when used in Australia is used exclusively to describe LTE networks and WiMax," commission lawyer Colin Golvan said, according to the Wall Street Journal. He said consumers saw the 4G marketing on the new iPad and assumed it would work with Teltra's LTE network in Australia, which led them to purchase the iPad when they would not have otherwise. The judge in the case has not yet approved the terms of the settlement, but if and when it is finalized, it's likely that Apple will also change its Australian marketing to say "WiFi + Cellular" like it already has in several other countries.