Cleveland Twist Drill Co. v. United States

60 Cust. Ct. 893, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2355
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 6, 1968
DocketR.D. 11542; Entry No. 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 Cust. Ct. 893 (Cleveland Twist Drill 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
Cleveland Twist Drill Co. v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 893, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2355 (cusc 1968).

Opinion

Landis, Judge:

This reappraisement appeal involves licensed patents and connected fees included in the appraised value of a twist drill rolling machine, type SW-10, which plaintiffs imported from West Germany in September 1962. The machine was designed to use the licensed patents for producing twist drills.

I find, as the parties have stipulated, that the proper basis for ap-praisement of the machine is constructed value under section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, 70 Stat. 943, T.D. 54165. The only issue before me is the proper amount of constructed value. The answer appears to lie in the terms of an agreement for a license under licensed patents, one of which terms called for the purchase of the imported machine, in which connection the parties have stipulated as follows:

a. On November 29, 1961, plaintiff and Rohde & Doerrenberg [hereinafter R.D.], a German Kommandtgesellschaft, entered into an Agreement. A copy of said Agreement is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
b. In March, 1962, Rohde & Doerrenberg assigned all of its rights, title and interest in and to said Agreement, as well as the patents and patent applications referred to therein, to Rollpress A.G., of Zug, Switzerland. The documents embodying said assignment are attached as Exhibits B and C.
c. The machine involved herein was ordered by plaintiff f rorn Roll-press on June 28, 1962, was manufactured in Germany and shipped by Rohde & Doerrenberg from Hamburg on September 1, 1962, arrived in Cleveland on September 17, 1962, and shortly thereafter was installed in plaintiff’s plant in Cleveland.
d. The entered value of the machine was DM 180,000.
e. Appraisement was made on the basis of constructed value under Section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, at DM 1,000,000, net, packed, FOB.
[895]*895f. Plaintiff and the United States agree that constructed value is the proper basis of appraisement. [Exhibit 1.]

On trial, two witnesses testified for plaintiffs. Mr. Carl E. Apthorp, Jr., manager of mechanical development for The Cleveland Twist Drill Company, Cleveland, Ohio (hereinafter Cleveland), signed the agreement for the licensed patents and purchase of the machine for his company. Mr. John D. Eobison is the appraiser who made the appraisement at Cleveland, Ohio, on August 14, 1963. A number of exhibits are also in evidence. The only exhibits I find it necessary to refer to, aside from the basic agreement (exhibit 1), are an amendment to the agreement (exhibit 5), and the licensed patents (exhibits 6 and 1). Defendant put in no evidence.

Both sides have filed briefs. Each looks to the agreement as sustaining his respective claim, plaintiffs urging that the proper amount of constructed value is DM180,000, but defendant contending that DM1,000,000, as appraised, is the correct amount of constructed value.

Constructed value is defined in section 402(d), as amended, supra, 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.

Plaintiffs, as the official papers show, entered the imported machine at DM180,000. Mr. Eobison appraised it at DM1,000,000. Asked to testify, Mr. Eobison stated that, when he made his appraisement, he considered the agreement and concluded from the terms as to license rights that the entered value should be advanced DM820,000, the amount he included in the appraised value. DM180,000 and DM820,000 [896]*896quite obviously added up to DM1,000,000, the final appraised value.

Neither the appraised value, or, for that matter, the claimed value, is broken down into amounts for each of the three constructed elements recited in section 402(d), as amended. An appraiser does not necessarily note an amount for each of the elements in section 402(d) when he appraises on that basis. Cf. F. P. Dow, Inc., of Los Angeles, a/c Olympic Plastics Co., Inc. v. United States, 51 Cust. Ct. 440, Reap. Dec. 10616. The record does not indicate, therefore, to which of the elements of constructed value the appraiser assigned the amount of DM820,000. Plaintiffs’ burden, on trial, would ordinarily require proof of an amount for each of the constructed elements in section 402(d), as amended. Philipp Wirth et al. v. United States, 23 CCPA 283, T.D. 48144.

The appraisment facts on this record are, however, clearly divisible as to the entered value DM180,000, which the appraiser accepted, and the amount of advance DM820,000. Both those amounts, as testified to and found by the appraiser, are presumptively correct. 28 U.S.C. § 2633. Plaintiffs rely on the presumption as to the DM180,000 amount. They dispute the fact that DM820,000 fits any of the constructed value categories in section 402(d) and would so prove. Defendant tacitly agrees that the appraisement is separable as to the entered and advanced amounts and that all there is to determine is whether DM820,000 was properly included in the appraised constructed value. The A. W. Fenton Co., Inc. v. United States, 52 Cust. Ct. 405, Reap. Dec. 10660.1 take this as an admission that if DM820,000 is not properly included in the appraised value, then DM180,000 is the correct amount of constructed value.

The law on including fees paid for a patent process in the value of an imported machine using the patent process is relatively clear. Amounts paid for the right to use a patent process, unrelated to the cost of the machine designed to use the patent process, are not part of the constructed value of the machine. United States v. Tide Water Oil Co., 19 CCPA 392, T.D. 45554; The A. W. Fenton Co., Inc. v. United States, 52 Cust. Ct. 405, Reap. Dec. 10660. Customs administrators have accepted the legal principle and most recently published it for the information and guidance of those concerned with administration and others as follows:

Value
(2)

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

Related

United States v. Barr Shipping Co.
68 Cust. Ct. 332 (U.S. Customs Court, 1972)
H. M. Young Associates, Inc. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 642 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 Cust. Ct. 893, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-twist-drill-co-v-united-states-cusc-1968.