Lanston Industries, Inc. v. United States

49 C.C.P.A. 123, 1962 CCPA LEXIS 205
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedAugust 2, 1962
DocketNo. 5089
StatusPublished

This text of 49 C.C.P.A. 123 (Lanston Industries, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lanston Industries, Inc. v. United States, 49 C.C.P.A. 123, 1962 CCPA LEXIS 205 (ccpa 1962).

Opinions

Rich, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Lanston Industries, Inc., appeals from the judgment of the United States Customs Court, First Division (Abstract 65690), on its protest to the classification of certain “Monophoto machines” and parts therefor which it imported.

The following paragraphs of the Tariff Act of 1930 are involved: Paragraph 1551:

Photographic cameras and parts thereof, not specially provided for * * *.

[124]*124Paragraph 353:

* * * articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device * * *; all the foregoing, and parts thereof, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for, * * *.

Paragraph 1643:

* * * all typesetting machines, * * *; all the foregoing whether in whole or in part, including repair parts.

A descriptive pamphlet in evidence denotes the imported machines individually as a “ ‘Monophoto’ Filmsetting Machine.” Each weighs about 1200 pounds, occupies a floor space about 5 feet by 5 feet, and, as we were advised at oral argument, costs over $23,000. These machines are used in the printing industry and constitute one of the two elements of a typesetting machine system. The name “Mono-photo” is indicative of a very close relationship which exists between the imported machines and a well-known typesetting machine known as the “Monotype.” Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary (1913) gives a definition of “Monotype” which is as follows:

3. Print. A machine, operated automatically by means of a perforated tape guide; which casts and sets single types or logotypes. See COMPOSING- MACHINE.

Under the definition of “composing” the same dictionary says:

c. — machine, n. Print. A machine with keyboard which is used in automatically setting type or matrices from which type is cast. See GRAPHOTYPE; LINOTYPE; MONOLINE; MONOTYPE; TYPOGRAPH. — e.—room, n. The room in a printing-office where the type is set.

Illustrating this definition is a picture of a “Monotype Composing-machine” which is the machine with the keyboard and paper tape punching apparatus on which is made the tape guide which controls the Monotype machine. As the record here makes clear, the complete Monotype typesetting system comprises the keyboard-operated tape-punching apparatus and the type-casting machine, the operation of which is controlled by the punched tape. In the Monotype system, the actual typecasting, which is done by injecting molten metal into type matrices in a machine driven by an electric motor, is controlled by the punched paper tape much as the mechanical action of a player piano is controlled by the perforated paper music roll. This kind of typecasting machine is referred to in the record as a “hot metal” machine.

One of the characteristics of the Monotype typesetting machine is that it contains a relatively small, flat, rectangular matrix case holding the molds wherein are the characters of the type font of the type to be cast. Selection of characters, under the control of the paper tape, is done by moving the matrix case in two directions, forward and back and right and left, into selected positions over a hot metal [125]*125casting mechanism. The output of the machine, which runs automatically, is a tray or galley of set or composed metal type, the individual letters being arranged to form words in justified lines and the lines being arranged in columns. The printer can utilize this set metal type in various ways. It can be used directly for the final printing or, according to procedures well-known in the printing trade, a “repro-proof,” which is a carefully made print from the inked type, can be photographed as part of the process of making various kinds of printing plates from which the actual printing is done.

It appears to be assumed by the Government that a Monotype machine is a “typesetting machine” within the meaning of paragraph 1643, which provides for entry of such machines free of duty, because its end product is metallic type. Indeed, that machine is defined as a typesetting machine in dictionaries antedating the 1930 Tariff Act. Subsequent to 1930 a new technique known as photocomposing was developed. According to the single witness in this case, the sales engineer of the plaintiff corporation who had been associated with typesetting machines for 38 years, photocomposition apparatus was first developed around 1950. He described it as “a new modern method of typesetting.” The imported machines operate on the photocomposing principle and are a product of the makers of the Monotype machines, hence the name “Monophoto.” Actually, they are adaptations of the Monotype machine wherein the metal type molds in the matrix holder are replaced by a photographic transparency on which the type characters appear as transparent areas on an opaque background, the hot metal casting apparatus being replaced by a light source and an optical system, and the galley being replaced by a photosensitive strip and support in an appropriate light-tight holder. The machine is controlled by the same paper tape made in the same keyboard machine, which tape now controls the movement of the photographic transparency in the matrix holder in two directions to selectively position the characters in the path of the light source. The optical system and photosensitive material holder coact to produce lines of composed, type on the photosensitive material, on which said lines appear in a column after development. This photographic member is then used by the printer to make printing plates in substantially the same way he would use the reproduction made, from a repro-proof, the advantage of the machine being that some steps in arriving at the, final printing plate can be eliminated. So much for the technological background.

The issues below were whether the Monophoto machine is a camera under paragraph 1551, as the collector classified it, an article having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, as the Customs Court classified it, or within the meaning of “all typesetting [126]*126machines” in paragraph 1643, where appellant contends it should be classified.

In its protest, appellant made alternative contentions, claiming, first, duty-free status under paragraph 1643, and, secondly, classification under paragraph 353. The court below sustained the protest to the extent of holding the Monophoto machine is not a camera and granting classification under paragraph 353, but denied the classification primarily sought. We agree that the machine is not a camera, although not for the reasons stated in the Customs Court’s opinion, which we deem it unnecessary to discuss except as they may form a part of the conclusions which are hereinafter considered.

The imported machine was held below to be classifiable under paragraph 353 because it is admittedly operated by an electric motor and has other electrical features such as its illumination system, but principally because it was found not to be specially provided for in paragraph 1643 in the category of “all typesetting machines.” We shall direct the remaining discussion, therefore, to consideration of the correctness of the latter holding.

The Government’s brief, under the heading “Appellee’s Contention,” adopts the premise of the Customs Court’s conclusion in saying:

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49 C.C.P.A. 123, 1962 CCPA LEXIS 205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lanston-industries-inc-v-united-states-ccpa-1962.