Air-Sea-Forwarders v. United States

55 Cust. Ct. 456, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1631
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 14, 1965
DocketNo. 69589; protests 61/13437, etc. (Los Angeles)
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Cust. Ct. 456 (Air-Sea-Forwarders 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
Air-Sea-Forwarders v. United States, 55 Cust. Ct. 456, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1631 (cusc 1965).

Opinion

Ford, Judge:

The cases listed in schedule “A,” annexed hereto and made a part hereof, constitute a retrial of the case of Clary Corp. et al. v. United States, 48 Cust. Ct. 416, Abstract 66690, wherein certain machines identified by the number 2361, were held to be properly subject to classification as calculating machines specially constructed for multiplying and dividing under the provisions of paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Sixth Portocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108.

The present eases involve these identical machines, number 2361, and an additional machine identified as number 8561. These machines were classified as adding machines under 'the provisions of paragraph 353 and, in some instances, under the same provisions of paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, both paragraphs as modified by said sixth protocol, supra, and duty was assessed thereon at the rate of 12% per centum ad valorem. The contention of plaintiffs herein is the same as that in the Clwy case, supra, namely, that said machines are calculating machines specially constructed for multiplying and dividing and, as such, dutiable at the rate of 10% per centum ad valorem under the provisions of paragraph 353 or paragraph 372, either paragraph, as modified, supra.

The pertinent portions of the statutes involved herein provide as follows:

Paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by T.D. 54108, supra:

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as * * *, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not spe-cally provided for:
Adding machines having an electric motor as an essential feature _12%% ad val.

[457]*457Paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by T.D. 54108, supra:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for : Adding machines_12%% ad val.

Paragraph 353 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by T.D. 54108, supra:

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as * * * finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
Calculating machines specially constructed for multiplying and dividing, and having an electric motor as an essential feature-10%% ad val.

Paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by T.D. 54108, supra:

Machines, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
Calculating machines specially constructed for multiplying and dividing; * * *-10%% ad val.

The record in the instant case consists of the testimony previously adduced in the Clary case, supra, which is incorporated herein, plus the additional testimony of Duval N. Smith, called on behalf of defendant. In addition thereto, a brochure was received in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibit 4, illustrating and identifying machine number 8561, as well as the slip of paper, received in evidence as defendant’s exhibit B, on which the calculations were performed by Mr. Smith on the Olivetti machine. It was also stipulated by and between counsel for the respective parties that item number 2361 in the present ease is identical to the identical number 2361 in the incorporated case, and that item number 8561, covering the other machine, performs the same function in the same manner as machine number 2361, but is not the same in all material respects. Plaintiffs further limited the protest to these two item numbers and abandoned their claim as to all other machines.

The record in the incorporated case was set forth in our opinion in the Clary ease, supra, as follows:

The only testimony regarding the operation of the machines was given by Harvey H. Rich, president of the Elite Office Equipment Co., which sells adding and calculating machines, and owner of Wholesale Business Machines, which distributes the Totalia adding and calculating machines in certain areas of this country. The witness has been handling adding and calculating machines for some 15 years, having sold and repaired them during that time. For the past 5 years, he has become familiar with the operations of the product in question by studying and selling it.
Plaintiffs also called Fred B. Bonilla who, for 5 years, has been administrative director of the Clary Corp., which manufactures adding machines and cash registers and imports and distributes calculating machines. His firm has sold and distributed the machine in question for 5 years.
Plaintiffs’ exhibit 1 consists of a pictorial representation and keyboard of the imported machine, labeled “Clary Model 401.” Plaintiffs’ exhibit 3 is identified as an operator’s manual. Containing an illustration of a “Totalia” machine. Mr. Rich testified that he sold the machine illustrated in exhibit 1 under both the “Totalia” and the “Clary Model 401” labels. The merchandise described on -the invoices as “Printing Calculators Model No. 2361” was identified by Mr. Bonilla as being exactly identical to the “Clary Model 401” (R. 6), the only distinction being in the labels (R. 10). The 2361, which is sold by the manufacturer under his own label of “Totalia” (R. 10), has the Clary label attached to the model when imported by the Clary Corp. (R. 7).
In demonstrating the operation of the machine, upon cross-examination, Mr. Rich caused it to multiply 12 times 12 by depressing the number 1 and number 2 keys twice, the X button, and the equal button, and then the machine auto[458]*458matically arrived at the product.

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Related

Clary Corp. v. United States
48 Cust. Ct. 416 (U.S. Customs Court, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Cust. Ct. 456, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/air-sea-forwarders-v-united-states-cusc-1965.