Bendix Corp. v. United States

57 Cust. Ct. 184, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1795
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 1966
DocketC.D. 2759
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 57 Cust. Ct. 184 (Bendix Corp. 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
Bendix Corp. v. United States, 57 Cust. Ct. 184, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1795 (cusc 1966).

Opinion

Nichols, Judge:

The merchandise involved in this case is designated on the invoice and entry papers as “Polarmatic 62.” It was imported from England and entered at the port of Cincinnati on May 21, 1963.1 It was classified as a polarimeter and assessed with duty at 50 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 228(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 52739. Plaintiff claims that the merchandise is. properly classifiable as a scientific or laboratory instrument at 22y2 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 360 of said tariff act, as modified by T.D. 55816. An alternate claim for classification as an article having as an essential feature an electrical element or device under paragraph 353, as modified, has not been pressed and is deemed abandoned.

The Government claims that the merchandise was properly classified as a polarimeter under paragraph 228(a), as modified, or, if it is not a polarimeter, that it is dutiable under said paragraph as an optical measuring instrument.

The pertinent provisions of the Tariff Act of 1930, or said tariff act, as modified, are as follows:

Tariff Act of 1930:
Par. 228. (a) Spectrographs, spectrometers, spectroscopes, refrac-tometers, saccharimeters, colorimeters, prism-binoculars, cathetome-[186]*186ters, interferometers, haemacytometers, polarimeters, polariscopes, photometers, ophthalmoscopes, slit lamps, corneal miscroscopes, optical measuring or optical testing instruments, testing or recording instruments for ophthalmological purposes, frames and mountings therefor, and parts of any of the foregoing; all the foregoing, finished or unfinished, 60 per centum ad valorem.
Paragraph 228(a), as modified by T.D. 52739 and T.D. 52820:
Spectrographs, spectrometers, spectroscopes, refractometers, saccha-rimeters, colorimeters, cathetometers, interferometers, haemacytom-eters, polarimeters, polariscopes, photometers, ophthalmoscopes, slit lamps, corneal microscopes, optical measuring or optical testing instruments, testing or recording instruments for ophthalmological purposes, frames and mountings therefor, and parts of any of the foregoing; all the foregoing finished or unfinished_50% ad val.
Paragraph 360, as modified by T.D. 55816:
Scientific and laboratory instruments, apparatus, utensils, and appliances (including surveying and mathematical instruments), and parts thereof, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not plated with gold, silver, or platinum, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for:
***** * He
Other (except analytical weights; balances; laboratory scales; and laboratory instruments, apparatus, and appliances, for determining the strength of articles or materials in compression, tension, torsion, or shear; and parts of any of the foregoing). 221/2% * * * ad val.

It was stipulated at the trial that the article herein is composed in chief value of metal and is not plated with gold, silver, or platinum.

Plaintiff’s chief claim is that the imported merchandise (hereinafter called the Polarmatic) is not a polarimeter within the meaning and intent of paragraph 228(a), supra, but is more than a polarimeter. Defendant contends that it is but a technologically advanced, electronically sophisticated version of a polarimeter.

Plaintiff called two highly qualified witnesses: David Bandel, director of engineering of the Cincinnati division of The Bendix Corporation, and Murray Goodman, professor of chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

Dr. Bandel had obtained a bachelor of science degree from George Washington University in 1939, a master of science degree in chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1946, and a Ph. D. in chemistry from the same institute in 1950. He has engaged in chemical research and development and technical administration [187]*187with the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Army Chemical Center, and the Austenal Laboratories in New York City. He was a research associate and post-doctoral fellow at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and has been with American Machine & Foundry Co., Springdale, Conn., and Tracerlab, Inc., in Massachusetts. He has held his present position since 1963.

Dr. Goodman received a bachelor of science degree from Brooklyn College in 1949 and a degree of doctor of philosophy in chemistry from the University of California in 1952. He has been a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University in England and is the editor of the journal “Biopolymers.” He is engaged in teaching and research on the subject of polymers with biological significances and has been on the faculty of the Polytechnic Institute since 1956.

According to the record, “Polarmatic” is the trade name of a so-called spectropolarimeter imported from the Bendix Electronics Co. in England. “62” is a model number. Dr. Goodman stated that the first commercial spectropolarimeter came into existence in 1953. However, the term “spectropolarimeter” appears in the 1930 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary, which defines it as a combination spectroscope and polarimeter “for determining the rotary power of solutions.”

The Scientific Apparatus Makers Association represented to the Congress in 1929 that a spectropolarimeter was one of the products a domestic instrument manufacturer had made in the last 6 years and was then prepared to make. Tariff Readjustment Hearings, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Seventieth Congress, Second Session, volume III, schedule 3, Metals and Manufactures of, page 2261. What were the attributes of this article has not been put before the court, and we have no means even to speculate. If it was the merchandise at bar or any earlier version or model thereof, plaintiff’s burden would be greatly eased, because then the decision of the Congress not to enumerate it in paragraph 228 would have more significance for us. But it hardly seems possible it could have incorporated the sophisticated electronic devices of the instant model, and that it did anything more than the quoted definition says it did, cannot be assumed. We deal below with the Government’s use of this old definition to show that the article is an “optical instrument.” First we turn to the question whether it is a polarimeter.

It is well settled that the meaning of an eo nomine designation in a tariff act must be determined as of the date of the enactment of the act, but that the term will embrace merchandise not then known to commerce, provided the new article possess an essential resemblance to [188]*188the articles named in the particulars which the statute establishes as the criteria of classification. Davies Turner & Co. v. United States, 45 CCPA 39, C.A.D. 669; Smillie & Co. v. United States, 12 Ct. Cust. Appls. 365, T.D. 40520; Hoyt, Shepston & Sciaroni et al. v. United States, 52 CCPA 101, C.A.D. 865. Paraphrasing the language of the Davies Turner case, the issue here is whether the term “polarimeter” would have been understood in 1930 as including the Polarmatic had it been in existence at that time.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

ADC Telecomms., Inc. v. United States
2017 CIT 144 (Court of International Trade, 2017)
M. H. Garvey Co. v. United States
65 Cust. Ct. 434 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
Borneo Sumatra Trading Co. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 185 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
Engis Equipment Co. v. United States
62 Cust. Ct. 29 (U.S. Customs Court, 1969)
Henry A. Wess, Inc. v. United States
61 Cust. Ct. 670 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)
Bendix Corp. v. United States
61 Cust. Ct. 645 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Cust. Ct. 184, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bendix-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1966.