United States v. F. P. Dow, Inc.

54 Cust. Ct. 751, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2609
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 6, 1965
DocketA.R.D. 180; Entry No. 3249
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 54 Cust. Ct. 751 (United States v. F. P. Dow, Inc.) 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
United States v. F. P. Dow, Inc., 54 Cust. Ct. 751, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2609 (cusc 1965).

Opinion

Nichols, Judge:

This is an application for review of a decision and judgment of Donlon, J., holding that the cost of production of a fully automatic bottle blow molding machine, imported from Eng[752]*752land and entered at tbe port of Los Angeles on July 24, 1957, was $14,000. F. P. Dow, Inc., of Los Angeles, a/c Olympic Plastics Co., Inc. v. United States, 51 Cust. Ct. 440, Reap. Dec. 10616.

The parties are in agreement that cost of production, as that value is defined in section 402(f) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Administrative Act of 1938, is the proper basis of ap-praisement. Appellant claims, however, that the proper amount thereof is $28,000.

The trial court found the four statutory components of the cost of production of the imported machine to be:

Materials $ 4,760
Labor 2,464
Sec. 402(f) (1) 7,224
Usual general expenses (180 percent of tbe cost of labor)
Sec. 402(f) (2) 4,435
Cost of packing, etc.
Sec. 402(f) (3) 560
Addition for profit (14.6 percent)
Sec. 402(f) (4) 1,781
$ 14,000

Appellant does not contest the first three figures, but claims that an additional sum of $14,000 should be included in the profit component, claimed to represent a fee charged for the exclusive right to use the machine. Appellee contends and the trial court held that said amount is not a part of cost of production.

The pertinent facts in the record are as follows: About a year and a half prior to the importation of the machine involved herein, Olympic purchased from the British manufacturer, E. Shipton & Co., Ltd., a semiautomatic blow molding machine for the price of $12,000, which included a so-called license fee of $6,000, pursuant to a contract, dated January 16, 1956. (Plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1.) The contract granted to Olympic exclusive rights in 11 Western States to use the process of the licensor for the manufacture of hollow articles ; to use the machine purchased from the licensor in carrying out said process; and to use the licensor’s method of printing for printing hollow articles, subject to a royalty of 2 per centum of the “ex-works” price of such articles. The contract also contained the following clause:

13. IN tbe event that tbe demand for bellow articles within the said territory should increase to quantities profitable to Licensee sufficient to warrant tbe installation of fully automatic machines in tbe Licensee’s plant the Licensee will purchase and Licensor will sell to Licensee such a fully automatic machine from the Licensor at the price of twenty eight thousand Dollars ex-works the [753]*753price being subject to any increase of cost in labour or raw material wbieb. may occur between the date of this Agreement and the date on which the order for such fully automatic machine is placed.

According to Bernard Strong, a director of Sbipton, this amount was put in clause 13 because it was estimated to be the price if one machine were to be required, in which case a license fee of $14,000 would be included. However, the $28,000 figure was not broken down, and the allocation of $14,000 of it to the license fee rests on oral testimony only. At that time, Shipton had had insufficient experience in building fully automatic machines to know what they would cost.

However, when the time came for the purchase of automatic machines, one of which is involved herein, a new agreement was negotiated. A purchase order, dated April 2, 1957, provides for the delivery over a 3-year period of six fully automatic blow molding machines at a price of $14,000 each. A cancellation charge of $28,000 was to be paid if only two out of the six machines were taken. (Plaintiff’s exhibit 2.) The purchase order did not require the payment of a licensing fee as such and none was paid. The price of $14,000 had been arrived at in the course of negotiations between the importer and 'Shipton, in view of the order for a large quantity of machines, which would give the manufacturer more royalties on the hollow goods produced.

Because of later developments, such as the availability of equipment made in Hong Kong and Japan, the deterioration of the patent situation which increased competition, and the introduction of new kinds of plastic materials, Olympic did not take all six machines, and, after negotiations, a new purchase order was written. The new order, dated September 8, 1958, long after the date of entry of the machine here involved, provided for the purchase of four machines at $21,000 each. (Plaintiff’s exhibit 3.) The present machine, although already imported, was included among these four machines. According to David Borne, president of Olympic, the $21,000 reflected the price of the machine, plus a “cancellation charge,” the actual cost of the machine being $14,000. In effect, this agreement was a settlement for a partial termination. As it subsequently developed, Olympic took only three machines and paid a total “cancellation charge” of only $17,709.

Mr. Strong testified that, prior to negotiating with Olympic for the sale to it of fully automatic machines, his firm had sold three such machines to Lido Toy Co. for $14,000 each, plus a total license fee of $42,000. For this, Shipton granted Lido “an exclusive arrangement in the toy field that we would not put people into competition with them in the toy field in the United’ States — people who were directly competitive with them in the toy field.” A clause similar to [754]*754clause 13 in plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1 was included in the agreement with Lido, but it indicated that $14,000 was for the machine and $14,000 for the license fee. This agreement is not in evidence, and the foregoing information alb out it was developed in oral testimony.

Mr. Strong testified further that, during 1957, there was only one competitor manufacturing a fully automatic blow molding machine, but that firm did not start making its machine until August or September of that year. S'hipton had no way of obtaining that firm’s profit figures, since it was completely illegal for them to compare costs and profits. The witness did learn that the price charged by that firm was the same as Shipton was charging Olympic.

Although the parties and the court below have discussed at some length the question of whether a license fee for the exclusive right to use a patented machine and a patented process in an exclusive territory in the United States is properly a part of profit in the “cost of production” formula, we confront another question before we get to that one: whether the facts in this case establish that such a charge was “ordinarily” assessed. Of course, it is difficult to establish what is ordinary with respect to a mere handful of transactions, all separately negotiated. However “cost of production” is the residual method of appraisement, and the Congress expected this court to find some way of applying it whenever more preferred methods were already eliminated. So it is necessary to reject transactions that are manifestly not “ordinary,” and if any remain, however few, to draw on inferences from them.

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Bluebook (online)
54 Cust. Ct. 751, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-f-p-dow-inc-cusc-1965.