Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp. v. United States

54 Cust. Ct. 191, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2484
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 21, 1965
DocketC.D. 2532
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 54 Cust. Ct. 191 (Schlumberger Well Surveying 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
Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp. v. United States, 54 Cust. Ct. 191, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2484 (cusc 1965).

Opinion

Rao, Judge:

The issue presented for our determination here is whether an imported device, described as DCM-A poteclinometer cartridges, was properly classified within the provision for surveying instruments and parts thereof in paragraph 360 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1001, par. 360), as modified by the trade agreement with Switzerland, 90 Treas. Dec. 174, T.D. 53832, and assessed with duty at the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem.

Plaintiff claims primarily that said merchandise should be classified within the provisions of paragraph 353 of said act (19 U.S.C. § 1001, par. 353), as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 86 Treas. Dec. 121, T.D. 52739, as articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device and dutiable at 13% per centum ad valorem, or, alternatively, in the same paragraph, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T.D. 51802, as articles suitable for modifying, controlling, or distributing electrical energy, and subjected to duty at the rate of 15 per centum ad valorem.

Alternative claims for classification within the provision for signal-ling devices in said paragraph 353 and for classification within the provision of paragraph 372 for machines were abandoned.

Adversary parties have stipulated that the merchandise is in chief value of metal and is used in applied science in the field rather than in the laboratory for pure research. The parties are also in agreement that the commodity has as an essential feature electrical elements or devices which modify, control, or distribute electrical energy.

The competing provisions are as follows:

Paragraph 360 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the trade agreement with Switzerland, supra:

Surveying instruments and parts thereof, wholly or in chief value 35% ad val. of metal, and not plated with gold, silver, or platinum, finished or unfinished, not specifically provided for.

[193]*193Paragraph 353 of said act, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, supra :

Articles suitable for producing, rectifying, modifying, controlling, or distributing, electrical energy, and articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as electric motors, fans, locomotives, portable tools, furnaces, beaters, ovens, ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, and signs ; all the foregoing (not including electrical wiring apparatus, instruments, and devices), finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for: [Italics supplied.]
Switches and switchgear * * *
Machines for packaging pipe tobacco; * * *
Internal-combustion engines:
* * * * * * *
Other articles (except machines for determining the strength of materials or articles in tension, compression, torsion, or shear; flashlights; batteries; vacuum cleaners; and internal-combustion engines). 15% ad val.
Parts, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, not specially provided for, of articles provided for in any item 353 of this Part. The same rate of duty as the articles of which they are parts.

Paragraph 353 of said act, as modified by the Torquay protocol, supra:

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as electric motors, fans, locomotives, portable tools, furnaces, heaters, ovens, ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, and signs, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for: [Italics supplied.]
Batteries
Calculating machines * * *
*******
Other (except the following: blowers; combination candy cutting and wrapping machines; cooking stoves and ranges; cordage machines; fans; flashlights; industrial cigarette making machines; internal-combustion engines of the non-carburetor type; machines for determining the strength of materials or articles in tension, compression, torsion, or shear; machines for packaging pipe tobacco; machines for wrapping candy; machines for wrapping cigarette packages; tobacco cutting machines; and washing machines). 13%% ad val.
Parts, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, not specially provided for, of articles provided for in any item 353 of this Part (not including X-ray tubes or parts thereof). The same rate of duty as the articles of which they are parts.

A preliminary motion of plaintiff to seal the record was reserved for disposition by this division. This motion will be treated, infra.

The motion of defendant made at the initial hearing at Houston to incorporate the record in the case of R. W. Smith v. United States, 41 Cust. Ct. 78, C.D. 2024, was denied by order of the court, dated July 10, 1963.

[194]*194The evidence before the court consists of the testimony of two witnesses for the plaintiff and one for the defendant together with six documentary exhibits introduced by plaintiff and two by the defendant.

A brief description of the exhibits is here set forth:

Plaintiff s exhibit No. Description
1 The imported DCM-A cartridge. (Because of its delicate nature and value — $1300—and by reason of trade secrets involved, permission of the court was granted to withdraw said exhibit 1 at the conclusion of the trial.)
Schematic representation of the imported DCM-A cartridge, and the dip meter sonde attached after importation. bO
Graph including tracings made by DCM-A cartridge, which are marked “A.” CO
4 Instructions to plaintiff’s field personnel that imported potecli-nometers and dip meters do not supply valid information to determine location or orientation of drill hole.
Photograph of back view of poteelinometer cartridge. OX
Photograph of front view of poteelinometer cartridge as imported, showing electrical components. 03
Defendant’s exhibit No. Description
Coll. A Data submitted by plaintiff to appraiser at Houston on April 25, 1957, at time of initial importations.
B Document entitled “Continuous Dipmeter Survey. A New Instrument: ‘The poteelinometer and the Micro-Focused Devices’ by J. M. Bricaud and A. Poupon,” prepared for presentation at the fifth World Petroleum Congress June 1959, containing material which relates to the imported poteelinometer and other equipment not at issue.

It is claimed that plaintiff’s exhibits 2, 5, and 6, and defendant’s exhibit A involve trade secrets.

Plaintiff’s first witness, Kenneth A.

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Related

Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp. v. United States
54 C.C.P.A. 37 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1967)

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Bluebook (online)
54 Cust. Ct. 191, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schlumberger-well-surveying-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1965.