Mitsubishi International Corp. v. United States

66 Cust. Ct. 413, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2334
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 3, 1971
DocketC.D. 4227
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 66 Cust. Ct. 413 (Mitsubishi International 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
Mitsubishi International Corp. v. United States, 66 Cust. Ct. 413, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2334 (cusc 1971).

Opinion

LaNdis, Judge:

This protest involves manufactured articles described as “NGK Insulators1 (Machinery Parts of Porcelain for Lighting [sic] Arresters),” imported from Japan and entered at New York.

Customs classified the articles as dutiable at 30 per centum ad valorem under TSUS (Tariff Schedules of the United States) item 535.14, which, in the pertinent context of schedule 5, part 2, subpart D, provides as follows:

Ceramic magnets, ceramic electrical insulators whether or not in part of metal, and other ceramic electrical ware, including ferroelectric and piezoelectric ceramic elements :
535.11 Porcelain insulators, with metal parts cemented thereto and comprising not less than 30 percent of the weight thereof, used in high-voltage, low-frequency electrical systems - * * *
Ferrites_ * * * T“j 1C co 1C
Other_ 30% ad val. T-H 1C co 1C

[415]*415Plaintiff claims2 that tbe articles should be classified as parts of lightning arresters,3 dutiable at 17.5 per centum ad valorem, under TSUS item 685.90. In the pertinent contest of schedule 6, part 5, TSUS item 685.90 appears as follows:

Part 5 headnotes:
1. This part does not cover—
(i) electrical insulators or insulating materials (classifiable in other schedules according to materials of which made);
3$ 3* 3* & $ $
(iii) ceramic electrical ware (part 2D of schedule 5);
Hi ❖ He ❖ 3< ‡ 3s 3s
685.90 Electrical switches, relays, fuses, lightning arresters, plugs, receptacles, lamp sockets, terminals, terminal strips, junction boxes and other electrical apparatus for making or breaking electrical circuits, for the protection of electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits; switchboards (except telephone switchboards) and control panels; all the foregoing and parts thereof_ 17.5% ad val.

The official papers are in evidence. On trial, counsel stipulated that the imported articles are not ceramic magnets. Neither side disputes the presumption that the articles before us are a “ceramic article” as defined in schedule 5, part 2, headnote 2(a). Two witnesses testified for plaintiff. There is also testimony from one witness for defendant.

Exhibit 2 in evidence, a physical sample, is illustrative of the imported articles in the condition imported. It is concededly a ceramic housing (the imported article shall hereinafter be referred to as a “housing”) of one piece circular construction, approximately 4 feet high, weighing between 400 and 500 pounds. The outside configuration is that of circular spaced saucers (about 12 inches in diameter), rising in a pyramid one above the other, forming what one of plaintiff’s witnesses referred to as a “shed” profile. Exhibit 3, a photograph, [416]*416shows the housing (marked A) in profile4 with a complex of inside elements not contained in exhibits 2 which is illustrative of the imported articles. A copy of exhibit 3, reduced in size, is as follows:

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Related

Westinghouse Trading Co. v. United States
83 Cust. Ct. 33 (U.S. Customs Court, 1979)
United States v. Mitsubishi International Corp.
470 F.2d 1387 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1973)
Naftone, Inc. v. United States
67 Cust. Ct. 341 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 Cust. Ct. 413, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitsubishi-international-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1971.