A. W. Fenton Co. v. United States

52 Cust. Ct. 405, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1445
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 14, 1964
DocketReap. Dec. 10660; Entry No. 3182
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 52 Cust. Ct. 405 (A. W. Fenton Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A. W. Fenton Co. v. United States, 52 Cust. Ct. 405, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1445 (cusc 1964).

Opinion

Wilson, Judge:

This is an appeal for reappraisement of the value of a so-called electroplating plant inventory, consisting of a variety of articles, including an electroplating machine and its parts, other machines, and various other articles, and certain chemicals, chemical compounds, and solutions used in an electroplating process.

[406]*406The merchandise was exported on April 24, 1959, by Sifco Meta-chemical, Inc., Toronto, Canada, to Sifco Metachemical, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Entry of the goods was made by the plaintiff, customs broker, at its gross invoice price of $47,858.50 (Canadian), plus an addition of $32, “making the entered value $47,890.50, which was equal to $49,509.77 in United States currency” (E. 3). Appraisement was made on the basis of “constructed value,” section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, at “invoiced unit values, except as noted, in Can.$, plus 381.95% packing included.” The record discloses that, except for some “minor •changes,” the appraiser accepted the invoice price as the per se value and that the addition of 381.95 per centum was due to the inclusion in the appraised value of certain “license rights,” amounting to the sum of $183,131.70, which action by the appraiser, it appears, forms the basis of the present controversy. The importer concedes that constructed value is the proper basis of appraisement (E. 4), but contends that the entered value represents the constructed value of the importation at bar.

Section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, reads as follows:

(d) Constructed Value. — For the purposes of this section, the constructed value of imported merchandise shall be the sum of—
(1) the cost of materials (exclusive of any internal tax applicable in the country of exportation directly to such materials or their disposition, but remitted or refunded upon the exportation of the article in the production of which such materials are used) and of fabrication or other processing of any kind employed in producing such or similar merchandise, at a time preceding the date of exportation of the merchandise undergoing appraisement which would ordinarily permit the production of that particular merchandise in the ordinary course of business;
(2) an amount for general expenses and profit equal to that usually reflected in sales of merchandise of the same general class or kind as the merchandise undergoing appraisement which are made by producers in the country of exportation, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, for shipment to the United States; and
(3) the cost of all containers and coverings of whatever nature, and all other expenses incidental to placing the merchandise undergoing appraisement in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States.

The record in this case consists of the testimony of two witnesses called by the plaintiff, supplemented by certain documentary exhibits, hereinafter noted.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 1 is an offer, dated February 4,1959, by The Steel Improvement & Forge Co., Cleveland, Ohio, and acceptance, dated February 12,1959, by Dalic Metachemical, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, for [407]*407the purchase of the machinery, equipment, and other items under consideration, and, in addition, certain license rights and accounts receivable. Schedule A of said exhibit 1 refers to 'an agreement (plaintiff’s exhibit 2), dated November 29, 1954, between Dalic Metachemical, Ltd., on the one part and two other persons, namely, Herbert Denis Hughes and Jean Jacques Georges Icxi, the latter persons being the owners of certain patent rights having to do with plating processes, hereinafter described as “Dalic processes.” Under said agreement, Herbert Denis Hughes and Jean Jacques Georges Icxi granted to Dalic Metachemical, Ltd., “the exclusive right and license within Canada to use the Dalic patents and the Dalic processes and all other patents, patent rights, and licenses from time to time owned by either of the licensors” (page 4, plaintiff’s exhibit 2). It was this subject matter of plaintiff’s exhibit 2 which subsequently became a part of the offer made by The Steel Improvement & Forge Co. and the acceptance of same by Dalic Metachemical, Ltd. (plaintiff’s exhibit 1), as above noted.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 3, hereinafter referred to, is a supplementary agreement, dated August 1, 1955, between Dalic Metachemical, Ltd., and Herbert Denis Hughes and Jean Jacques Georges Icxi, whereby the latter persons designated as licensors granted to Dalic certain patent rights and licenses as to the use of the Dalic processes within the United States.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 4 (E. 49) is an offer of sale, dated February 27, 1959, made by The Steel Improvement & Forge Co.*and an acceptance by Sifco Metachemical, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. By virtue of said offer and acceptance, the machinery and equipment, inventories, and trade accounts receivable of Dalic Metachemical, Ltd., of Canada, together with the benefits of the license agreements that Dalic had with Messrs. Icxi and Hughes, were assigned to Sifco Metachemical, Inc. These items represent the transaction directly resulting in the importation now before the court.

Mr. John D. Eobison, appraiser of merchandise at Cleveland, who made the appraisement in this case, testified that the addition of 381.95 per centum to the entered value represented “a charge made for certain license rights to employ a process for which the imported machinery was exclusively used” (E. 8); that the amount of $183,131.70 was 381.95 per centum of the invoice value (E. 10) ; that the 381.95 per centum addition represents the license rights shown in plaintiff’s exhibit 1 (E. 12); that the basis of appraisement was constructed value and that he considered the license rights to be part of the constructed value (E. 12-13). He could not state under which part of “constructed value” he included the license rights, stating that he arrived [408]*408at tbe appraised value by employing “all reasonable ways and means” under section 500(a) (1) of tbe tariff act, as amended (R. 16,17,18,28, 29, 35, 36, 37). Tbe witness further testified that “We accepted the price that was shown on tbe invoice as an indication of tbe value of tbe used machinery” (R. 26). He further stated that “The license rights in the instant case were considered as an element of ownership, and therefore included in the appraised value” (R. 30, 32).

Plaintiff’s second witness was Brooks W. MacCracken, presently counsel and secretary for The Steel Improvement & Forge Co., into which Sifco Metachemical was merged in September 1962. He testified that he was the one who negotiated and prepared the agreements under which the merchandise in question was acquired and ultimately brought into this country (R. 41).

Plaintiff, in the case at bar, accepts all elements entering into the appraisement, except the addition of 381.95 per centum for the license rights. It is settled law that an appraisement is severable and that a plaintiff may challenge one or more elements of an appraisement and rely upon the presumption of correctness as to all other elements. United, States v. Fritzsche Bros., Inc., 35 CCPA 60, C.A.D. 371. Accordingly, the sole question here for determination is whether the inclusion in the appraised value of certain “license rights,” amounting to $183,131.70, was proper.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 Cust. Ct. 405, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-w-fenton-co-v-united-states-cusc-1964.