Chinese lawyers have filed a complaint on behalf of more than 170 consumers against Hewlett-Packard, requesting that the Chinese government order a recall of allegedly faulty notebook computers.

The move marks the first time the world's largest PC brand has faced organised action from overseas consumers in a sign that consumers in the world's most populous market are increasingly aware of and more willing to fight for their interests.

The complaint, which was seen by the FT, was delivered to the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on Monday.

It requests that the quality watchdog investigate the quality of HP notebooks and order the company to buy back or exchange allegedly faulty notebooks bought by the plaintiffs and compensate them for losses. It also calls for AQSIQ to suggest a recall of related notebook computers.

Laweach, a not-for-profit website that helped organise laptop users for the case, said Chinese buyers of certain HP laptop computers sold since 2007 had faced malfunctioning screens and overheating problems on a massive scale.

The complaint said the problems were due to faulty graphics cards produced by Nvidia, a chipmaker which supplies several PC makers with this component.

In July 2008, Nvidia publicly acknowledged quality problems with some graphics cards and announced that it was paying PC makers to deal with resulting problems.

The complaint said although HP had offered an extension of warranty periods for some notebook models, that was not a thorough solution of the problem.

“We have also noticed that HP in the US offered consumers extended warranty periods for even more models and compensated them for transport costs, but in China, it has not made a statement or offered services and openly discriminated against Chinese consumers,” the complaint said.

Jiang Suhua, a lawyer at Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, said the group was not taking HP to court because the absence of class action in China meant the prospects for such action were dim.

He said he hoped AQSIQ would order a recall, and consumers could then negotiate compensation with HP.

AQSIQ has increasingly muscled in on consumer rights.

So far this year, in the car market alone, the quality watchdog ordered recalls of two Mitsubishi models, two Peugeot models, one Citroën model and one Chrysler model.

A decision in the HP case would set a new precedent, however, as Chinese law so far has clear rules only for recalls of cars, food products, drugs and toys.

“We hope we can set a precedent and help strengthen the protection of consumer rights in China,” said Mr Jiang.

HP said it was not able to comment by the time of going to press. AQSIQ declined to comment.