Many companies will void the user's warranty on their products if they've been opened up. We've all seen the little stickers on many electronic products saying "warranty void if removed", trying to keep users away from repairing their own devices or using third-party repair services. As it turns out, that's illegal, and the United States Federal Trade Commission is taking action against six companies who have been in violation of this law.
On April 9, the agency sent out letters to Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, HTC, ASUS, and Hyundai, putting the companies on notice to change their warranty practices within 30 days, warning that "violations of the Warranty and FTC Acts may result in legal action".
The warning was issued because the federal agency believes that all six companies are in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act which states that manufacturers can't impose repair restrictions on products sold at a price higher than $5.
For three of the companies - HTC, Sony, and ASUS - the letter goes on to say that use of "warranty void if removed" seals is also illegal, a practice which the three companies include in their warranty policies. The FTC claims that this is an issue it's "particularly concerned" about.
None of the companies involved have commented on the situation, but it's not the first time video game companies have been caught up in legal trouble recently with Nintendo, in particular, already dealing with a patent infringement issue that could block imports of its Switch console.
Source: Motherboard via GoNintendo | Image credit: AVR Electronics (eBay)
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