G. L. Electronics, Inc. v. United States

46 Cust. Ct. 526
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 6, 1961
DocketNo. 65768; protests 257762-K and 282071-K (Los Angeles)
StatusPublished

This text of 46 Cust. Ct. 526 (G. L. Electronics, Inc. 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
G. L. Electronics, Inc. v. United States, 46 Cust. Ct. 526 (cusc 1961).

Opinion

Lawrence, Judge:

Protest 257762-K in the name of G. L.- Electronics, Inc., and protest 282071-K in the name of Arrow Sales, Inc., were consolidated for trial. .

Certain articles described on the invoice in protest 257762-K as Toho testers, and on the invoice covered by protest 282071-K as O-l MA, meters, “MO-38” type (hereinafter referred to as meters), were classified by the collector of customs as instruments suitable for measuring electrical energy in paragraph 368 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. §1001, par. 368), as modified by the trade agreement with Switzerland, 69 Treas. Dec. 74, T.D. 48093, and duty was imposed thereon at the appropriate rates.

Plaintiffs, by their protests, claim said' merchandise is properly dutiable at 13% per centum ad valorem as articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, which are provided for in paragraph 353 of said act (19 U.S.C. §1001, par. 353), as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dee. 121, T.D. 52739; or dutiable at the rate of 12% per centum ad valorem in said paragraph 353, as modified, supra, as radio or television apparatus.

The pertinent text of the statutes involved reads as follows:

Paragraph 368 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, supra:

[527]*527* * * mechanisms, devices, or instruments intended or suitable for measuring the flowage of electricity; time switches; all the foregoing which are provided for in paragraph 368 whether or not in cases, containers, or housings:
(1) If valued at not more than $1.10 each-27%0 each.
* * * * * * *
Valued at more than $2.25 but not more than $5 each-750 each.
*******
(2) Any of the foregoing shall be subject to an additional duty of_32%% ad val.

Paragraph 353 of said act, as modified, supra:

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as electric motors, fans, locomotives, portable tools, furnaces, heaters, ovens, ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, and signs, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
*******
Television apparatus-12%% ad val.
Other (except the following: blowers; combination candy cutting and wrapping machines; cooking stoves and ranges; cordage machines; fans; flashlights; industrial cigarette making machines; internal-combustion engines, of the non-carburetor type; machines for determining the strength of materials or articles in tension, compression, torsion, or shear; machines for packaging pipe tobacco; machines for wrapping candy; machines for wrapping cigarette packages; tobacco cutting machines; and washing machines)_13%% ad val.
Electrical signaling, radio * * * apparatus, instruments (other than laboratory), and devices, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for (not including television apparatus, instruments, or devices)-12%% ad val.

At the trial, plaintiffs introduced collective exhibit 1, to represent the Toho testers, and illustrative exhibit 2 was received to represent the meters.

The only witness in the case, George Liehterman, was called by the plaintiffs. He testified in substance as follows: He is president of the G. L. Electronics, Inc., and secretary of Arrow Sales, Inc., the plaintiffs herein; his duties consist of purchasing, merchandising, advertising, and selling electrical equipment. He had taught audiofrequency for a brief period at the Illinois Institute of Technology; had written technical manuals for the technical services of the Air Force, United States Navy, and Signal Corps; was a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers for the past 11 years; and was a member of the Audio Engineering Society.

As a result of his studies and experiments, coupled with his commercial activities, Liehterman had acquired considerable knowledge of the behavior, control, and utility of electricity. Through experience and training in the electrical field, including electronics, the witness had become familiar with the uses of the Toho tester, and, in his opinion, it could not be used to measure electric power or energy but rather to indicate voltage, which he explained as follows, using exhibit 1 by way of illustration. In order to use a Toho tester to indicate voltage, the red and black leads must be put into the proper terminals of exhibit 1 while the two long probes are placed parallel to an enclosed circuit for this determination. The witness indicated that enclosed in exhibit 1 is a D’Arsonval instrument, which is a coil in a permanent fixed field of magnetism; that a minute current flows through the wires of the probes and through multiplier resistors inside the instrument; that as the current passes through it generates a magnetic field, which opposes the fixed magnetic field and forces the needle to move, thus indicating the amount of pressure between the two points under test.

[528]*528He stated that amperage could be determined in a somewhat similar procedure, except that the probes are placed in series and, instead of the multiplier resistors contained in 'the instrument, a shunt resistor is used; that the resistance can be determined by the Toho tester by directly solving the mathematical equation known as Ohm’s law, which is that resistance is equal to voltage divided by current; that the instrument contains a known voltage of 1% volts and a known current (by virtue of the battery contained therein) ; that the resistance in the instrument is known depending upon the hole in which you place the probes on exhibit 1; and that, with these factors, the instrument directly solves the equation and indicates the amount of resistance between two points in any given circuit.

The witness testified that the purpose of importing these instruments is to sell them to radio and television repairmen who use them to ascertain what may be wrong with a set.

When asked to give his understanding of the term “flowage of electricity,” the witness stated:

To me, it indicates the transference from the power generating points to the device absorbing the power, as for example, from a wire to the electric plant on the Colorado River, to the electric iron which the housewife is using. Transferring power from one point to another is flowage of electricity.

In his opinion, the Toho tester does not measure the flowage of electricity; a watthour meter is used for that purpose. The evidence further shows that the Toho tester is a device having as an essential feature an electrical element.

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46 Cust. Ct. 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/g-l-electronics-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1961.