R. J. Saunders & Co. v. United States

23 Cust. Ct. 311, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1205
United States Customs Court·Decided November 15, 1949·No. No. 7754; Entry No. 728130·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Foed, Judge:

The question involved in this appeal for reappraisement is the proper dutiable values of certain imported unbound printed sheets for books, exported from England and entered at the port of New York. The merchandise consists of unbound printed sheets for 500 each of the children’s books entitled “Johnny Crow’s Party” and “Johnny Crow’s Garden.” Each set of sheets for these books was invoiced and entered at 10 pence each, plus cases and packing, and appraised at 1 shilling, 7 pence each, plus cases and packing.

At the trial of this case it was agreed between the respective counsel that there was no foreign, no export, and no United States' values for the merchandise, and that the proper basis for finding values was cost of production as defined in section 402 (f) (1), (2), (3), and (4) of the Tariff Act of 1930.

Evidence was offered as to whether or not the cost of production should be based upon the cost of producing the 500 copies each of “Johnny Crow’s Party” and “Johnny Crow’s Garden” here involved, or spread over a larger number of copies of the printed sheets. According to the record before me, these unbound sheets were, after importation, bound into books, and when such books were sold at retail a certain sum was added to the retail price, collected from the retail purchaser, and transmitted through specified channels to the author of the books so sold. The sum so collected and transmitted is denominated a royalty. The unbound sheets were never sold in the condition in which imported, and no royalty was ever due and payable or collected until these unbound sheets had been converted into books and sold at retail.

After this appeal was tried and submitted and prior to the rendition of a decision, on motion of counsel for the plaintiff, the submission was set aside, and the case restored to the May 16, 1949, docket. However, prior to the case being called for a hearing, counsel for the respective parties resubmitted the same upon the following stipulation, in which it was agreed:

That the imported sets of sheets for 500 copies of the book entitled “Johnny Crow’s Garden,” here in question, were supplied out of an edition of sets of sheets for 6,000 copies of said book printed at one time, and prior to the date of exportation of the said imported sheets; and that the total cost of the plates from which the said 6,000 sets of sheets were printed was English £64.
That the imported sets of sheets for 500 copies of the book entitled “Johnny Crow’s Party,” here in question, were supplied out of an edition of sets of sheets for 5,000 copies of said book printed at one time, and prior to the date of exportation of the said imported sheets; and that the total cost of the plates from which the said 5,000 sets of sheets were printed was English £23.
That the cost of production of the unbound sets of sheets here in question, under Section 402 (f) (1) (2) (3) and (4), Tariff Act of 1930, determined in accordance with the basis held by the Appellate Court to be applicable in finding the cost of production of unbound sets of sheets for books, in the case of OXFORD [313] UNIVERSITY PRESS, N. Y„ INC. v. UNITED STATES, Suit 4607, decided March 1, 1949, is, as follows:
(a) Unbound sets of sheets for “Johnny Crow’s Garden,” eleven (11) English pence per set of sheets, not including any amount paid to the author for royalty;
(b) Unbound sets of sheets for “Johnny Crow’s Party” nine (9) English pence per set of sheets not including any amount paid to the author for royalty.
That if the amount paid as royalty to the author of said books is held by this Court to be a part of the dutiable value of the said unbound sets of sheets here in question, then the cost of production of said sheets would be two and one-half (2)4) English pence additional per set of sheets for each of the said respective books.
That in view of this stipulation and the decision in the said OXFORD case, supra, the cost of production for sheets for 500 books, as shown in the affidavit of W. A. Herring (Exhibit 1), shall be disregarded for the purposes of the instant case.
That the record in said Suit 4607 may be incorporated in and made a part of the record herein.
That the above entitled reappraisement may be deemed to be submitted for decision upon this stipulation, and the record as previously made; * * *.

In view of the fact that the above-quoted stipulation definitely fixes the cost of production of the imported merchandise, if the royalty be held not to be a part of the cost of production, and also if the royalty be held to be a part of the cost of production, the only question remaining for determination is whether or not the amount of the royalty should be included as a part of the cost of production of the imported unbound sheets for books.

On the question of royalty, plaintiff’s exhibit 1 contains the following statement:

That prior to, or about January 1, 1937, the royalties on works sold by Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd., to Frederick Warne & Co., Inc., were charged and paid only upon actual retail sale of the books but that after said date, said works and the royalties thereon were billed to Frederick Warne & Co., at the same time for convenience only, and that the advanced billing of royalties did not then and does not now entitle the author to royalties other than on retail sale of the works, and that there is no agreement or understanding to the contrary.

The above statements are fully confirmed by the testimony of plaintiff’s witness Treble to the effect that the unbound sheets are never sold in the condition as imported; that these unbound sheets are always bound into books in this country, and that the charge for royalties is a charge that is made on the retail sales of the bound books and that this charge is never made on the unbound sheets as imported.

In support of the contention that the amount of the royalty should not be added to or included as a part of the cost of production of the unbound sheets, counsel for the plaintiff cites T. D. 31903, wherein the Treasury Department, after an exhaustive consideration of the question of the dutiability of royalties on books produced in this [314] country by binding unbound printed sheets after importation, held that a royalty payable to the author directly, or through a foreign publisher, upon the sale of the completed book and not upon the unbound printed sheets, as imported, did not constitute any part of the dutiable value of the imported unbound sheets.

Counsel for the plaintiff also cites as supporting his contention Adams Express Company v. United States, Circular No. 24068; Macmillan & Co. v. United States, Circular No. 28379; Doran & Co. v. United States, Circular No. 33714; and Thos. Meadows & Co. v. United States, Circular No. 27593. In the latter case the court stated:

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R. J. Saunders & Co. v. United States, 23 Cust. Ct. 311, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1205 (cusc 1949).

23 Cust. Ct. 311 (R. J. Saunders & Co. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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