By Mike Cherney 
 

SYDNEY--An Australian court ordered Apple Inc. (AAPL) to pay a penalty equivalent to $6.7 million after the tech giant "bricked" iPhones and iPads and didn't offer to fix them because they had been previously serviced by third-party providers.

At issue was "Error 53," which shut down the devices after consumers downloaded updates. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued Apple last year, alleging the tech giant violated Australian law by telling customers it wouldn't fix the devices for free because they had previously been serviced by stores outside Apple's network.

The Federal Court of Australia "declared the mere fact that an iPhone or iPad had been repaired by someone other than Apple did not, and could not, result in the consumer guarantees ceasing to apply," Commissioner Sarah Court said in a statement Tuesday.

If a product is faulty, customers are entitled to a repair or a replacement, and sometimes a refund, Ms. Court said. The regulator's lawsuit was seen as a broad challenge to Apple requiring customers to pay for repairs to defective components if their device was previously serviced by a third party.

Apple didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

Some saw Error 53 as part of a general effort to prevent customers from going to non-Apple stores for repairs. Apple initially said Error 53 was necessary to protect customers if a fraudulent fingerprint sensor was used, but it later said the error was a mistake that was designed to be a factory test and apologized.

The Australian regulator said Apple told at least 275 Australian customers impacted by Error 53 that they weren't entitled to a remedy. The customers were told this between February 2015 and February 2016 and the information was provided on Apple's U.S. website, by Apple's Australia in-store staff and on customer-service phone calls.

After Apple was notified of the Australian regulator's investigation, the company reached out to some 5,000 customers who were impacted by Error 53 to compensate them, the regulator said.

Apple also agreed to improve staff training, as well as beef up its internal systems and procedures to make sure it's complying with Australian consumer laws, the regulator said. Under that agreement, Apple committed to providing new replacement devices if a product is faulty, not just refurbished ones.

-Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 18, 2018 20:50 ET (00:50 GMT)