The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission filed a federal lawsuit against Apple Inc. over allegations it misled consumers about their warranty rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

The regulator said April 6 they discovered Apple "routinely refused to look at or service consumers' defective devices if a consumer had previously had the device repaired by a third party repairer, even where that repair was unrelated to the fault."

The investigation was kicked off following reports relating to "error 53," an error that disabled consumers' iPads and iPhones after downloading an iOS update.

The ACCC is seeking pecuniary penalties, injunctions, declarations, compliance program orders, corrective notices, and costs.