United States v. F. B. Vandegrift & Co.

26 C.C.P.A. 360, 1939 CCPA LEXIS 236
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMarch 6, 1939
DocketNo. 4183
StatusPublished

This text of 26 C.C.P.A. 360 (United States v. F. B. Vandegrift & Co.) 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
United States v. F. B. Vandegrift & Co., 26 C.C.P.A. 360, 1939 CCPA LEXIS 236 (ccpa 1939).

Opinion

Hatfield, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States Customs Court, Second Division, in reappraisements 110233-A and 110234-A.

Merchandise, consisting of three machines for use in the manufacture of glass ampoules, was exported from Germany during the months of October and November 1934, and imported into the United States at the port of Philadelphia during November and December of that year. The machines were entered by the importers at approximately $1,800 each.

Each machine was appraised by the local appraiser at 7,500 reichs-marks, its alleged foreign value, plus packing charges.

The importers appealed for reappraisement.

Considerable evidence was introduced by the parties.

In its first decision, the trial court, Sullivan, Judge, presiding, affirmed the appraised values.

On appeal, the appellate division of the Customs Court, in an opinion by Dallinger, Judge, held that the merchandise had no foreign, export, or United States value, that its dutiable value was the cost of production, and, accordingly, reversed the decision of the trial court and remanded the cause with instructions that the trial court find cost of production.

In his second decision, Judge Sullivan found that the cost of production of the involved machines was 4,369.45 reichsmarks each.

On appeal by the Government, the appellate division of the Customs Court, in an opinion by Dallinger, Judge, found from the evidence that the cost of production of each of the machines was 4,369.45 reichsmarks, as found by the trial court, and, accordingly, affirmed the trial court’s judgment.

[362]*362It appears from the record that one Jakob Dichter is the sole owner of the Arab eg Co., the German manufacturer of the involved machines; that the Kimble Glass Co. purchased the machines from the Ambeg Co. and paid therefor the sum of $1,800 per machine; that the Kimble Glass Co. also paid Jakob Dichter $1,200 per machine, which sum appellees contend was a license fee, but which counsel for the Government contend was a part of the purchase price of the machines.

The so-called license fee of $1,200 per machine was not referred to' either on the invoices or on the entries, and it is contended here by counsel for the Government that it should bave been included in both; that, as it did not appear on either, the importers faded to comply with the provisions of sections 481, 482, and 485 of the Tariff Act of 1930; and that, by virtue of the provisions of section 501 of that act, the appeals for reappraisement were invalid and should have been dismissed by the appellate division of the Customs Court.

Section 481, supra, provides that all invoices of merchandise imported into the United States shall set forth the purchase price of each item in the currency of purchase where the merchandise is “shipped in pursuance of a purchase or an agreement to purchase,” all charges-upon the merchandise, and any other facts deemed necessary to a proper appraisement, examination, classification of the merchandise, etc.

Section 482, supra, relates to certified invoices, etc.

Section 485, supra, relates to the form and contents of entries, and requires a declaration to the effect that the prices set forth in «the invoices are the prices paid by the importer, etc.

Section 501, supra, provides, among other things, that — ■

No such appeal filed by the consignee or his agent shall be deemed valid, unless he has complied with all the provisions of this Act relating to the entry and appraisement of such merchandise.

If, as contended by counsel for the Government, instead of $1,800, as stated in the invoices and entries, the purchase price was $3,000 per machine, the invoices and entries are not in compliance with the provisions of sections 481, 482, and 485, supra, and, by virtue of the quoted provisions of section 501, the importers’ appeals for reappraisement are invalid and should be dismissed.

The witness Herman Kieinberg Kimble, vice president and general manager of the Kimble Glass Co., testified that that company paid approximately $1,800 for each of the involved machines, and that it also paid an additional $1,200 per machine as a “license fee!'” for patent- and exclusive selling rights in the United States. He stated positively that the payment of $1,200 per machine was not a part of its purchase price.

[363]*363Under date of July 5, 1935, Treasury Representative John P. Griebel reported to the Treasury Department that—

* * * The importer has the exclusive rights to purchase these machines for export to the United States and also the exclusive rights to make, vend, and use the machines in the United States and Canada. They will not be sold to any one else for export to the United States.
There is a written contract to this effect. It is a long document containing 21 paragraphs and there was no copy available, a complete copy can he obtained from the importer.
It gives Kimble rights for these and future patents in the United States and Canada and to make use and vend during the life of the agreements such processes, machinery, and articles. Also covers new patents and processes.
Kimble also agrees to pay Dichter (the manufacturer) certain so-called royalties, $5,000.00 in 1934, $6,000.00 in 19.35, $7,000.00 in 1936, $8,000.00 in 1937, $9,000.00 in 1938, and $Í0,000.00 in 1939 and yearly thereafter.
Mr. Dichter staled that this covers the right to use the patents of a number of different machines and processes already in use and all the new ones which he may bring out in the future. There are already quite a number of them for various machines and processes and all belong to Mr. Dichter. [Italics ours.]

That report is identified in the record as Collective Exhibit 5.

No claim is made here that the “royalties” provided for in the written contract, referred to in the quoted excerpt, were a part of the purchase price of the involved machines. We quote further from Collective Exhibit 5:

Prices. — The only machine in question is the automatic ampoule machine, type U-l, and the price is $1,800.00, ex-works, Berlin, Packing included. [Except the word “Prices,” italics ours.]
* % í¡í * tfc ‡ *
Orders.- — -Mr. Kimble [to whose-testimony we have hereinbefore referred] was at the factory and placed the order for the three machines covered by the two consular invoices verbally.

The witness Kimble testified that the verbal contract for the purchase of the involved machines was entered into after the written contract, referred to in Collective Exhibit 5, was executed.

It appears from Collective Exhibit 7 (a report dated October 3, 1935, signed by Erwin G. May, Treasury attaché, and Horace A. Browne, Treasury representative) that the purchase of the involved machines was arranged orally with a representative of the Kimble Glass Co., and that Mr. Dichter, sole owner of the Ambeg Co., stated that—

The understanding was that

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Bluebook (online)
26 C.C.P.A. 360, 1939 CCPA LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-f-b-vandegrift-co-ccpa-1939.