Netgear countersuit says TP-Link's American company rebrand is false advertising

[midian182]

What just happened? TP-Link continues to vehemently argue that it is a US, not Chinese, company. The Pentagon says otherwise, and so does US-based Netgear, which believes its rival makes false advertising claims and has cost it millions of dollars in lost sales because consumers wrongly think that it's no longer associated with China.

Netgear has filed counterclaims against TP-Link in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, escalating a legal fight that TP-Link started last November.

The original lawsuit accused Netgear of running a smear campaign that connected TP-Link to Chinese cyberespionage fears and breached a 2024 settlement between the two router giants. Netgear's response now says the real deception is TP-Link's attempt to rebrand itself as an American company.

According to the counterclaim, TP-Link "remains, at its core, a Chinese company selling Chinese-made products."

Netgear alleges that TP-Link's 2024 reincorporation in California did not fundamentally separate the business from China-based TP-Link Technologies, which later changed its name to Lianzhou.

It claims much of the company's R&D and manufacturing remains in China under the same cofounder, with more than 13,000 employees there through 2024, compared with around 350 in the US.

Netgear also takes aim at TP-Link's "Made in Vietnam" labeling, alleging that the country is mostly used for final assembly and that 99.5% of components in US-bound products are imported from China.

It says those claims are important because customers are increasingly wary of Chinese-made networking hardware, especially after federal agencies began scrutinizing TP-Link over pricing, cybersecurity, and national security concerns.

Netgear's filing arrived one day after the US Department of Defense added TP-Link Technologies to its list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States. The designation does not itself ban consumer sales, but it adds extra pressure as TP-Link tries to convince regulators that its US arm is independent.

TP-Link is already seeking an exemption from the FCC's foreign-made router ban by arguing that TP-Link Systems Inc. is headquartered in Irvine, California, and should be treated as an American company.

The FCC rules block approval of new consumer routers made outside the US, though existing devices can keep receiving updates until 2029. Netgear and Amazon-owned Eero have already received exemptions.

This isn't TP-Link's only courtroom problem, either. Texas sued the company in February, accusing it of deceptive marketing and allowing China-linked hackers to access American consumers' devices. TP-Link denied those allegations, insisting it is independent from the Chinese government and that US user data is stored in the United States.

Netgear is seeking damages and an injunction barring TP-Link from repeating the contested claims. TP-Link, meanwhile, maintains that Netgear's China-focused attacks are false, defamatory, and commercially motivated.

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Netgear countersuit says TP-Link's American company rebrand is false advertising

 

[NumberNine]

I used to spend so long checking lists to ensure whatever consumer grade device I bought from these manufacturers would support OpenWRT / Tomato, but then I decided to learn MikroTik and have never looked back.

 

[J95qRP7]

I wonder what % of components come from China, in Netgear's equipment? I'd have to gues it'd be nearly the same as TP-Link.

 

[Hecate91]

Netgear lobbied AKA bribed the US govt to get an exemption for the router ban, a company who also has their products made in China starting a legal battle is ridiculous.

 

[themastergoose]

The irony of a company complaining it's competitor should be banned for using "99.5% Chinese components" is not lost on me when they are probably the same.

 

[abactuon]

Does the Pentagon really buy routers from Amazon?

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

The router ban now will have companies pit against each other to vie for first place by any means.

 

[daffy duck]

I distrust Netgear as much as TP-Link. Wouldn't touch gear from either of them.

 

[rmcrys]

I distrust Netgear as much as TP-Link. Wouldn't touch gear from either of them.

I not only buy as I would buy much faster from TP-Link than I would buy from Netgear. ATM my trust in US based tech is so low, that only Russian tech could be as untrusted.

Many US companies love to do the "look, the Chinese are the guilty" (while we send a lot of data and install backdoors on our stuff)

 

[Squuiid]

I distrust Netgear as much as TP-Link. Wouldn't touch gear from either of them.

100%, nobody should. Both cheap garbage and unfortunately catering to those who don't know better.

 

[bandit8623]

The irony of a company complaining it's competitor should be banned for using "99.5% Chinese components" is not lost on me when they are probably the same.

Yet programming and everything you do with the hardware is whats important. Hardware in itself is not a botnet.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Eh who cares if China is spying on me, they have no jurisdiction here.

I'm far more worried about the US government spying on me, because they can actually do something with the data.

 

[Superconductor]

It's all Chicom

 

[BobHome]

So, if you can't out-sell them, out-sue them?

 

[Endymio]

Many US companies love to do the "look, the Chinese are the guilty" (while we send a lot of data and install backdoors on our stuff)

I hate to interrupt a good fantasy with facts, but in the last four years alone, there have been at least three major cyberattacks conducted by CCP-sponsored state actors, using backdoors installed in Chinese routers. The US has conducted exactly zero such.

 

[rmcrys]

I hate to interrupt a good fantasy with facts, but in the last four years alone, there have been at least three major cyberattacks conducted by CCP-sponsored state actors, using backdoors installed in Chinese routers. The US has conducted exactly zero such.

And you know that the US conducted zero exactly... How? That's right, no one in the US tells you that they conducted a cyber attack. But perhaps the Chinese, European etc could tell something about it...

 

[Endymio]

And you know that the US conducted zero exactly... How? That's right, no one in the US tells you that they conducted a cyber attack.

In your haste to disagree, you forgot to engage critical thinking skills. First, you're simply speculating in the total absence of any evidence.

More importantly: these Chinese cyberattacks have targeted hundreds of private companies, NGOs, law firms, defense contractors, utility operators, and many others ... all victims who scream loudly when attacked. If the US was doing the same, it would certainly be common knowledge .. and if the US is simply conducting cyber ops against those who won't speak out -- terror networks, drug cartels, etc -- then all to the good.