Marr Duplicator Co. v. United States

24 Cust. Ct. 322, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1488
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 4, 1950
DocketNo. 53862; protests 466783-G, etc. (New York)
StatusPublished

This text of 24 Cust. Ct. 322 (Marr Duplicator 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
Marr Duplicator Co. v. United States, 24 Cust. Ct. 322, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1488 (cusc 1950).

Opinion

Ford, Judge:

The protests listed in schedule “A,” hereto attached and made a part hereof, present for our determination the question of the proper classification of certain imported paper which was classified by the collector as paper not specially provided for, and duty was accordingly levied thereon at the rate of 30 percent ad valorem under paragraph 1309 of the Tariff Act of 1922 as to those protests falling under that act, and under paragraph 1409 as to those protests which fall under the Tariff Act of 1930.

Plaintiffs claim the merchandise to be properly dutiable at only 5 cents per pound plus 15 percent ad valorem under either paragraph 1305 or 1405 of the respective tariff acts, as papers with coated surface or surfaces, not specially provided for.

The wording and also the rate of duty in the two paragraphs of the respective acts, insofar as here applicable, are the same.

At the trial of these protests, counsel for the plaintiffs offered the testimony of the president of the Marr Duplicating Co. It appears from the record that this witness was well qualified to testify concerning the facts involved in this case.

A sample of two of the items, and illustrative of the third item of the merchandise in issue, was admitted in evidence and marked exhibit. 1, and also a sample illustrating the various stages in the manufacture of the paper, as testified to by the witness, was admitted as illustrative exhibit A. These two exhibits have been examined and considered by us in connection with the question here presented and the oral testimony adduced.

In his brief filed herein, counsel for the plaintiffs formally abandoned protests 344-K, 4583-K, and 22532-K. These three protests have been dismissed in a separate decision, and will therefore be given no further consideration herein.

Counsel for the plaintiffs also limited the claims in the protests here under consideration to the merchandise described as item 16 on the Stobbs & Vickery invoices, and to the items designated as “M. O.” or “A. F.” on any of the other invoices.

The record shows that as to the merchandise designated as “A. F.,” a sheet of yoshino paper was pulled over a roller, the lower portion of which was submerged in a solution of wax and softening materials, such as oleic acid, stearic acid, amylstearic acid, and other chemicals; that while only one side of the paper was pulled over this wet roller, the solution thoroughly penetrated the loose texture of the paper, going all the way through to the opposite side, so much so that after [323]*323the paper was dried, it was difficult to tell one side from the other. After this was done, the paper was hung up or suspended until thoroughly dry, it being stated by the witness that the wax set almost immediately.

The dried paper, which previously had been thoroughly impregnated with the wax solution, was then coated with a cellulose solution, which solution was also in a liquid form, and was applied in the same manner as the wax solution. However, this cellulose solution did not penetrate the paper due to the fact that the paper was already thoroughly impregnated with the wax solution, this second application of the solution causing the paper, after it was dried, to have a different appearance on the side to which it was applied from the side which had not been subjected to the second application.

The process employed in producing the paper designated by the items “M. 0.” or No. 16 differed from the process employed in producing “A. F.” paper only in the fact that the first solution applied was a nitrocellulose solution instead of a wax solution. In the case of the “M. 0.” paper, however, the second application was with a nitrocellulose solution containing the same ingredients as the first solution, except that it was thicker and more concentrated.

With reference to illustrative exhibit “A,” the record shows that the white portion thereof consists of uncoated yoshino paper, that the next one-fourth inch on the sheet represents the paper after one application of the solution, and that about one-half inch further down represents the paper after the second application of the solution. The record further shows that in each instance the first coat or application of the solution thoroughly penetrated the paper and completely impregnated it with the solution, while the second application of the solution, no matter on which side of the paper it was applied, remained on the surface and could be removed by scraping.

The record also shows that the paper designated as item No. 16 on the Stobbs & Vickery invoices is the same as the merchandise designated on the other invoices as item “M. 0.”

Upon the record as outlined above, counsel for the plaintiffs, in his brief filed herein, contends that:

The facts in the instant case clearly bring the A. F. and M. O. papers here involved into the categorv of surface coated papers and are legally indistinguishable from the facts in the Marr Dvplicaior Co. case, C. D. 173. The fact that different ingredients were used in the solutions with which the papers were coated is immaterial, in each case the first coating served to impregnate the paper by penetration. The second coat stayed on the surface of the paper of necessity because the interstices of the paper were already filled by the solids contained in the first coat.

In disposing of the question presented in the Marr Duplicator Co. case, supra, this court said:

In the instant case the paper in question in the first instance was saturated or impregnated with a solution of gelatin filling all the interstices throughout the fibers of the basic paper, rendering the paper up to that stage an impregnated and not a coated paper within the decisions of this court and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. The manifest purpose of the second coating applied after the paper was thoroughly dried was to reach the surface of the article only and to give the paper a more finished appearance, as shown by an examination of the sample admitted in evidence herein as Illustrative Exhibit B. If, as in the case just cited, some of the nitrocellulose had found its way beneath the surface, that result would be unintentional and would not be an essential part of the process, and was not within the design and purpose of the makers of the paper. The evidence clearly shows that where the second coating has been scraped off by means of a knife or safety razor blade, the amount of the nitrocellulose found in the remaining portion of the paper was so infinitesimal that it could well be deemed negligible, and thus may be disregarded in determining the classification of the paper.

[324]*324With the contention of counsel, as set out above, we are in agreement. The paper in this case consists of yoshino paper to one surface of which was applied, in the first instance, a solution, which solution not only covered the surface, but impregnated the interstices of the fibers of the entire basic paper. After that, the paper was thoroughly dried and there was then applied to it a second solution, which, by reason of the paper and all the interstices thereof being completely filled and impregnated by the application of the first solution, of .necessity, remained on the surface of the paper.

In Knauth, Nachod & Kuhne et al. v. United States, 4 Ct. Cust. Appls. 11, the converse of the instant situation was before our appellate court.

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Related

Knauth v. United States
4 Ct. Cust. 11 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1913)

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Bluebook (online)
24 Cust. Ct. 322, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marr-duplicator-co-v-united-states-cusc-1950.