P. Beiersdorf & Co. v. United States

31 C.C.P.A. 158, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 3
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedFebruary 7, 1944
DocketNo. 4434
StatusPublished

This text of 31 C.C.P.A. 158 (P. Beiersdorf & Co. 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
P. Beiersdorf & Co. v. United States, 31 C.C.P.A. 158, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 3 (ccpa 1944).

Opinion

Bland, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The First Division of the United States Customs Court sustained the classification of the collector, holding that appellant’s imported merchandise here in controversy was properly dutiable at 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 37 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as an ester and at the rate of 3 cents per pound under section 701 (8) of the Revenue Act of 1936 as an inedible animal grease or fatty acid derived from inedible grease, processed. The importer there claimed that the merchandise was free of duty as an animal wax, not specially provided for, under paragraph 1796 (relying principally on this claim), or as a manufacture of wax, not specially provided for, at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1536, and that it was. not subject to the internal- revenue tax. From the judgment of the United States Customs Court, appellant has here appealed.

Thepertinent provisions of the tariff act and the revenue act involved are as follows:

Par. 37. * * * esters of all kinds not specially provided for, 25 per centum ad valorem: * * *.
Par. 1536. Candles, 27% per centum ad valorem; manufactures of amber, bladders, or wax, or of which, these substances or any of them is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for, 20 per centum ad valorem.
Par. 1796. Wax: Animal, vegetable, or mineral, not specially provided for.
Sec. 701 of the Revenue Act of 1936.
* * * ' * * * *
(8) Whale oil (except sperm oil), fish oil (except cod oil, cod-liver oil, and halibut-liver oil), marine-animal oil, tallow, inedible animal oils, inedible animal fats, inedible animal greases, fatty acids derived from any of the foregoing, and salts of any of the foregoing; all the foregoing, whether or not refined, sulphonated, sulphated, hydrogenated, or otherwise processed, 3 cents per pound; * * *.

The manner in which the involved merchandise is produced is as follows: Wool grease or lanolin (which is a purified wool- grease) is distilled or saponified to obtain wool grease fatty acids. These fatty acids are heated together with glycerine, which is of animal origin, in a process known as esterification. The product then becomes a glycerine ester of wool grease fatty acid. After cooling, it is slummed off the glycerine and boiled in a charcoal solution to purify it, and it is then evaporated. The product at bar remains.

[161]*161Exhibit 1, which is a sample of the imported merchandise, consists of a chunk of waxy material approximately 2}{ inches square, contained in a tin receptacle which appears to be about a 1-pound tin. The waxy material remains in the' approximately square form, notwithstanding the fact that it is supported at no point, except on the bottom, by any portion of the container; and, from our observation, it does not run or melt at room temperature.

The analyses of the imported merchandise according to both appellant’s and appellee’s witnesses differ materially only in the unsaponi-fiable matter. We quote the following table from the decision below:

Plaintiff Defendant
Melting Point_58°-59° C_58°
Specific Gravity-.969_No Determination
Acid Value_3-3.9_3.9
Ester Value_ 121-124_124
Saponification Value_124r-127.9_127.9
Iodine Value- 16.3-18.8_18.8
Unsaponifiable Matter_2.1 percent_22.1 percent

The importer took the testimony of two witnesses and the Government that of one. There was considerable conflict between the testimony of appellant’s two witnesses and that of the witness for the Government especially as to their conclusions as to whether or not the importation was a wax. Dr. Harvey Seil, a chemist of wide experience who testified for the importer, Tn stating that exhibit 1 was a wax, said:

Q. Why is it a wax? — A. It is a wax because it has the general appearance of a wax, it possesses all the typical qualities, and has about the same specific gravity as the typical beeswax, its melting point is close to that of beeswax, which runs between 52 and 55, and its melting point is 58 to 59. It has a relatively low saponification value; its iodine value is low, and the fatty acids are very high in molecular weight.
Q. Can you express an opinion as to what kind-of a wax it is? — A. Yes.
Q. What kind of wax is it? — A. It is a wax derived from lanolin.
Q. Would you consider it to be an animal wax? — A. Yes.
Q. Is or is not exhibit 1 an ester? — A. Yes, it is an ester.
Q. What kind of ester is it?- — A. It is an ester of a high molecular weight fatty acid.
Q. Is it a glyceryl ester of a high molecular weight fatty acid?- — A. I didn’t make the specific test for the test of glycerine.
Q. How does exhibit 1 compare with beeswax?
'A. It has the general appearance of beeswax, although slightly more tacky.
. Q. What about the melting point and specific gravity?
A. The melting point is very close to that of beeswax — within five degrees. The specific gravity is within the beeswax range.
Q. Are you familiar with inedible animal greases?
A. Yes, to a certain extent.
Q. How are you familiar with them? — A. By having analyzed them.
Q. Can you express an opinion as to whether or not exhibit 1 is an inedible animal grease? — Yes or no.
A. Yes.
[162]*162Q. And what is that opinion? — A. My opinion is that it is not an inedible animal grease.
Q. Why not? — A. Because the melting point is too high.
Q. Any other reason? — Its physical appearance?
A. Yes; the consistency is different from that of an animal grease. Animal greases are softer.

Dr. Soil also stated positively that esterification of a fatty acid differs from refining, sulphonating, sulphating, or hydrogenating fatty acids in that these processes “still leave you fatty acids,” while the process of esterification of fatty acids results in their neutralization “by the alkali group of the glycerine.”

The Government’s witness, Dr. Bartlett, a Government chemist, stated that the imported merchandise was not an animal wax; and, as we construe his testimony, his conclusion was based for the most part upon a statement which he made to the effect that he did not know of any animal wax that was a glyceride. He later admitted, however, that many well-known waxes, such as myrtle and Japan, both vegetable waxes, were glycerides. He farther stated that the importation at bar is a “different product from wool grease.

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31 C.C.P.A. 158, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/p-beiersdorf-co-v-united-states-ccpa-1944.