TP-Link Systems Inc. has filed suit in Delaware federal court, accusing rival Wi-Fi hardware maker Netgear Inc. of again pushing an "unlawful smear campaign" that falsely casts TP-Link products as infiltrated by the Chinese government, despite agreeing in a recent settlement that it would no longer make disparaging claims about TP-Link's business.

Irvine, California-based TP-Link accused Netgear on Monday of commercial disparagement, breach of contract, defamation and unjust enrichment, saying Netgear had been carrying out an extensive campaign aimed at sabotaging its business, including by using members of the media, consultants and others as "mouthpieces" for the alleged smear campaign.

"TP-Link is a U.S.-based company incorporated and headquartered in California that has no ties with the Chinese government," TP-Link asserted in its complaint. "Moreover, it invests significantly in the security of its products to combat infiltration by any unauthorized actors be they from the United States, China, or any other country."

TP-Link said Netgear's "campaign of falsehoods is designed to disparage TP-Link and generate unfounded fears regarding security of TP-Link products, including to give Netgear an unfair advantage in the marketplace that it otherwise could not enjoy through fair, head-to-head competition with TP-Link based on product quality and security."

TP-Link claims in its suit that while the two companies compete in the market for networking and smart home products, Netgear's products have struggled to compete with TP-Link's. TP-Link says that its "high-performance, reliable, and reasonably priced" products stand in contrast to Netgear's "premium pricing approach."

But instead of fairly competing with TP-Link, the company said that Netgear is trying to capitalize on "anti-Chinese sentiment and fear of cyberattacks."

It is also not the first time Netgear has leaned on linking TP-Link to China-related security concerns, TP-Link asserts.

The two companies had entered into a settlement in 2024 to resolve patent-related lawsuits they had filed against each other.

TP-Link says in Monday's suit that it had insisted on including a provision barring Netgear from making any disparaging or derogatory assertions about TP-Link's business, given that Netgear "previously engaged in a campaign of disparaging assertions regarding potential bans on TP-Link products and regarding alleged China-related security concerns with TP-Link products."

TP-Link says that Netgear initially resisted such a provision, but ultimately agreed to it as part of a larger deal that included a $135 million payment from TP-Link.

"[A]t least a substantial portion of that payment was due to Netgear's promise" not to disparage TP-Link, its complaint says.

But despite signing the agreement, Netgear "returned to the exact conduct prohibited by that agreement," TP-Link asserts.

TP-Link says that much of the alleged smear campaign is carried out during Netgear's earnings calls, with Netgear sometimes "passing along misinformation Netgear had covertly injected into the public through the media and other proxies in the first place."

Netgear's CEO Charles Prober had allegedly made false statements about TP-Link in the company's Oct. 29 earnings call when suggesting that TP-Link has networking equipment that has connected "components" from a "Chinese covered list," TP-Link said in its complaint.

It said that Prober also "falsely and misleadingly suggested that a 60 Minutes piece exists investigating TP-Link."

But TP-Link routers being sold in the U.S. do not contain any components from any Chinese covered list, TP-Link says.

"Nor is there any basis in fact or truth for Mr. Prober's claims about a purported 60 Minutes piece," it said.

TP-Link said that it sent a letter to Netgear a day after the earnings call, expressing concern about the statements. Netgear, however, "never responded," it said.

The lawsuit comes as the U.S. government continues to express concerns over risks to U.S. cybersecurity, particularly from China. The U.S. is currently carrying out an ongoing program that pays telecom carriers the cost to "rip and replace" risky foreign-made equipment, primarily from Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE, from their networks. Congress created the program in 2019 to offset carriers' costs resulting from a legal mandate to remove network gear deemed a security threat.

Last week, a group of 23 bipartisan lawmakers penned a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, calling for an investigation into China-based TP-Link Technologies, which TP-Link Systems split from in October 2024, "and its affiliates" to determine whether its products should be banned from the U.S.

The lawmakers, who include Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said that TP-Link Technologies products are currently being sold through the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy Exchanges.

In a press release, the lawmakers said that banning TP-Link Technologies products would be the "largest removal of Chinese telecommunications equipment from the U.S. since Huawei Technologies."

This followed a group of Republican senators' call in May to block the sale of "TP-Link networking products" in the U.S.

Netgear did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening.

TP-Link is represented by Brian P. Egan and Ben Yenerall of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP, and Gregory S. Arovas, Todd M. Friedman, Luke L. Dauchot, David Rokach and Stephen C. DeSalvo of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Counsel information for Netgear was not immediately available.

The case is TP-Link Systems Inc. v. Netgear Inc., case number 1:25-cv-01396, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.