The Guangdong Province Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court has issued a final judgment in the case of unfair competition and commercial defamation brought by Man Wah Holdings Ltd (HKEX: 1999) against Jiangxin Duju Smart Home Co., Ltd. (SHE: 301061).
The court ruled that the defendant's 2024 third-quarter report contained false and misleading statements that damaged the plaintiff's commercial reputation, constituting an act of commercial defamation under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
Court Mandates Corrective Actions and Compensation
As a result of the final ruling, Jiangxin Duju Smart Home is required to publish a correction announcement on the Cninfo website and remove the defamatory content from its 2024 third-quarter report.
Furthermore, the company has been ordered to pay Man Wah Holdings and its subsidiary Man Wah Holdings (China) Co., Ltd symbolic damages of RMB 1, along with a total of RMB 81,000 to cover reasonable legal costs incurred during the first and second trials.
Legal Basis and Corporate Responsibility
The judgment, based on the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, states that as a listed company, Jiangxin Duju Smart Home is legally responsible for the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of the information it discloses. The court found the company liable for fabricating and disseminating misleading information, thereby harming a competitor's commercial standing.
The legal consequences for this act include ceasing the infringement, eliminating its negative impact, and providing compensation for losses.
Company's Stance on Compliance and Competition
Man Wah Holdings, a company with over three decades in the Chinese home furnishings industry, stated its commitment to lawful and compliant operations. The group emphasized its dedication to upholding business ethics, fulfilling social responsibilities, and opposing any form of misleading information dissemination or unfair competitive practices.
This final judgment follows an earlier first-instance ruling which also ordered Jiangxin Duju Smart Home and its General Manager, Xu Meijun, to immediately cease the defamatory actions and delete the offending information.
About the Company
Man Wah Holdings Ltd was founded in 1992 and is primarily engaged in the design, production, and sale of mid-to-high-end functional sofas. The group sells its products, marketed under the well-known brand "Cheers," through extensive distribution channels in Mainland China and Hong Kong, and exports to overseas markets including the US and Europe.
According to Euromonitor International data, the group was the world's top-selling functional sofa enterprise by sales volume in 2025. In the same year, it ranked as the third-largest functional sofa manufacturer in the US market and a leading producer and retailer of leisure sofas domestically.
The "Cheers" brand was awarded China's top brand honor in 2007. The group operates production facilities in China, the US, Vietnam, Mexico, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania. It was listed among Forbes Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion companies in 2014 and was included as a constituent of the Hang Seng Composite MidCap Index in the same year.