Sam's Club Store is the high-end membership store owned by the Fortune Global 500 Company Walmart. In 1996, Walmart China invested and set up the first Sam’s membership store in Shenzhen, China. Until now, it has been invested and set up fifteen stores in China.

In 2016, Walmart China recognized that Tianjin Uncle Sam Trading Co. Ltd., Tianjin Wuqing Sam Import and Export Co. Ltd., and Dalunduo (Tianjin) International Trading Co. Ltd. used “Sam” in the brick-and-mortar store, Official Wechat and promotional material without permission. Therefore, Sam’s Club Store sued these three companies to the court with the reason of unfair competition.

The court of first instance judged the three companies to stop using the service name “Sam”, which the plaintiff have a great influence, in the online and offline stores, and compensate the economic losses and reasonable expenses of 300,000 yuan in total. Both parties refused to accept the judgment of the first instance and institute an appeal to Tianjin High People’s Court. Recently, Tianjin High People’s Court made the final judgment towards this unfair competition dispute that the behaviour of the three companies constitute unfair competition, and the judgment of first instance was maintained.