Dale Products Corp. v. United States

31 Cust. Ct. 170, 1953 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 928
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 4, 1953
DocketC. D. 1565
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 31 Cust. Ct. 170 (Dale Products 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
Dale Products Corp. v. United States, 31 Cust. Ct. 170, 1953 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 928 (cusc 1953).

Opinion

Olivee, Chief Judge:,

This case relates to certain men’s expansion watch bracelets or watch bands imported from Japan. The merchandise was classified under the provision in paragraph 1527 (c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 for:

Articles valued above 20 cents per dozen pieces, designed to be worn on apparel or carried on or about or attached to the person, such as and including buckles, cardcases, chains, cigar cases, cigar cutters, cigar holders, cigar lighters, cigarette cases, cigarette holders, coin holders, collar, cuff, and dress buttons, combs, match boxes, mesh bags and purses, millinery, military and hair ornaments, pins, powder cases, stamp cases, vanity cases, watch bracelets, and like articles * * *. [Italics added.]

The merchandise before us was assessed with duty at the rate of 65 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1527 (c) (2), as modified by T. D. 51802, supplemented by T. D. 51898.

[171]*171Plaintiffs claim that the merchandise in question is properly classifiable under paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by T. D. 51802, as articles or wares not specially provided for, composed wholly or in chief value of iron, steel,, or brass, but not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer, and dutiable at the rate of 22% per centum ad valorem.

The plaintiffs alternatively claim the merchandise to be classifiable as jewelry, at rates equivalent to 55 per centum ad valorem, under the said paragraph 1527 (a) (2), as modified, supra. Although this claim was not formally abandoned, it has not been pressed by plaintiffs, and it is not further considered herein.

Fifteen witnesses testified. Seven appeared on behalf of plaintiffs and eight for defendant. In addition, both sides offered numerous exhibits. While the record is quite voluminous (consisting of more than 600 pages of testimony and approximately 75 exhibits), there is no dispute concerning the material facts. Hence, no necessity exists for a detailed analysis of the testimony and a specific reference to each exhibit. Instead, we shall refer only to pertinent portions of the record as we proceed with our disposition of the present issue.

The terms “watch bracelet” and “watch band” are used interchangeably throughout the record. Plaintiffs’ witnesses prefer to designate the articles in question as watch bands, while defendant refers to them as watch bracelets.

The principle of commercial designation is not a proper subject for discussion herein. The testimony offered by both parties is consistent to the effect that the articles in question (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1) are generally known in the trade as watch attachments, or watch bracelets, or watch bands, and that the three terms are synonymous. (For easy reference throughout this decision, the present merchandise will be referred to hereinafter as “watch bands.”)

These watch bands are approximately 5 inches in length. Plaintiffs concede that they “are used to encircle the wrist and hold a watch in place” (It. 3). They are of “spring link construction” that imparts to them “expansion facility,” permitting the articles to be slipped over the hand and fitted securely to the wrist. One is made of stainless steel; the other is of brass. The color has a decorative effect, adding eye appeal to the articles. The parties have stipulated that they are “composed of either steel, or brass, or both; that they are not plated with platinum, gold or silver, or colored with gold lacquer” (R. 7). These watch bands are relatively low-priced articles that are sold principally to jobbers and “chain stores primarily, drug stores, automotive stores, dry goods stores, candy stores, tobacco shops” (R. 620).

Plaintiffs contend that the provision in paragraph 1527 (c), supra, [172]*172invoked herein by the collector, embraces only such articles as are “fundamentally ornamental in character, and excludes therefrom articles such as these, which are designed to be worn on the person, but not as an ornament” (R. 4). In other words, it is contended that the watch bands in question are “utilitarian in character,” and that they have no value with respect to comfort, convenience, or adornment, and that, therefore, they are excluded from the provisions of paragraph 1527 (c).

Counsel for plaintiffs, in their brief, have reviewed the decisions that construed the statutory language “Articles * * * designed to be worn on apparel or carried on or about or attached to the person.” Our discussion refers to all of those cases.

The case of C. H. Hanson v. United States, 20 Treas. Dec. 384, G. A. 7179, T. D. 31348, is the earliest expression with respect to the provision. That case arose under the Tariff Act of 1909, wherein paragraph 448, so far as pertinent to the present issue, reads as follows:

Chains, pins, collar, cuff, and dress buttons, charms, combs, millinery and military ornaments, together with all other articles of every description, finished or partly finished, if set with imitation precious stones composed of glass or paste (except imitation jet), or composed wholly or in chief value of silver, German silver, white metal, brass, or gun metal * * * and designed to be worn on apparel or carried on or about or attached to the person * * * all of the foregoing * * * whether or not denominatively or otherwise provided for in any other paragraph of this Act * * *.

The Board of General Appraisers (now the United States Customs Court) analyzed the foregoing statutory language in the C. H. Hanson case as follows:

Paragraph 448 must be construed to harmonize, as far as practicable, with other provisions of the law, and the legislative will with regard to classes of merchandise the subject of special legislation in other schedules and paragraphs may not be indiscriminately brushed aside by reason of a phrase contained in a paragraph devoted to ornamental articles in the nature of luxuries designed to be carried on or about the person for display, and which, as luxuries, were regarded by Congress as a proper medium for increasing the revenue.
The explicit provision that certain articles are to be removed from paragraphs where they would otherwise be subject to duty and be included in paragraph 448 is not to be disregarded, however, and the identity of the particular class of goods Congress had in mind can best be established by a comparison thereof with those named in paragraph 448. Chains, pins, collar, cuff, and dress buttons, charms, combs, millinery and military ornaments set with imitation precious stones or composed wholly or in chief value of silver, German silver, white metal, brass, or gun metal, valued at 20 cents or more per dozen pieces, are all ornaments intended to be worn on or about the person for display. * * * It appearing that everything named in the paragraph is in the nature of articles, or materials or parts of articles, designed to be worn on apparel or carried on or about or attached to the person for purposes of adornment, in our opinion it follows that the provision for “all other articles of every description” must be measured by the same standard.
[173]*173We do not hold that all articles of utility are excluded from paragraph 448, nor, on the other hand, that articles of utility which may be carried in the pocket, although ornamental and composed of superior materials, necessarily fall for duty under that paragraph.

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Bluebook (online)
31 Cust. Ct. 170, 1953 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dale-products-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1953.