Wolf v. United States

19 C.C.P.A. 132, 1931 CCPA LEXIS 288
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedNovember 2, 1931
DocketNo. 3414
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 19 C.C.P.A. 132 (Wolf 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
Wolf v. United States, 19 C.C.P.A. 132, 1931 CCPA LEXIS 288 (ccpa 1931).

Opinions

Bland, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal involves the proper dutiable classification for customs purposes of .certain small, cheaply constructed phonographs, which were classified by the collector of customs at the port of New York as toys under paragraph 1414, Tariff Act of 1922.

[133]*133The importers protested the said classification and the assessment of duty and claimed the merchandise to be dutiable under several paragraphs of the same act, but here rely upon the claim for classification under paragraph 1444 of said act as phonographs, or under paragraph 372 of said act as “all other machines or parts thereof.”'

The United States Customs Court, First Division, overruled the protest and sustained the classification of the collector.

The pertinent parts of the three competing paragraphs of the Tariff Act of 1922 under consideration here are as follows:

Pak. 372. * * * all other machines or parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, 30 per centum ad valorem: * * *
Pak. 1414. Dolls, * * * and all other toys, and parts of toys, not composed of china, porcelain, parían, bisque, earthen or stone ware, and not specially provided for, 70 per centum ad valorem.
Pak. 1444. Phonographs, gramophones, graphophones and similar articles, and parts thereof, not specially provided for, 30 per centum ad valorem; * * *

The article at bar is a small phonograph composed entirely of thin, cheap metal with the exception of the paint and enamel and some kind of cloth coating for the revolving disk which holds the record. The machinery of the same is contained in a tin box with a hinged cover, about 6 inches square by 3K inches high. It plays a record which is in the usual form except that it is a trifle under 6 inches in diameter. The box fid contains the printed phrase “Bing pygmy-phone.”

In Illfelder v. United States, 1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 109, T. D. 31115, where a similar question was at issue, in an opinion by Smith, J., the following definition was given for a toy:

In common speech, and as popularly understood, a toy is essentially a 'plaything, something which is intended and designed for the amusement of children only, and which by its very nature and character is reasonably fitted for no other purpose. Although an article may be chiefly used for the amusement of children, if its nature and character are such that it is also reasonably fitted for the amusement of adults, or if it is reasonably capable of use for some practical purpose other than the amusement of children, it can not be classed as a toy unless it is affirmatively shown by the importer that it is so known and designated by the trade generally. (Italics not quoted with the exception of “reasonably.”)

While this definition in some of the later decisions of this court may have been explained and somewhat extended, it has never been changed or modified in any material respect and should be and is, we think, generally accepted as a most satisfactory judicial definition of a toy in a case like the one at bar.

The Government contends that the article in controversy is shown by the record to be exclusively used for the amusement of children and that, owing to its size, shape, and flimsy construction, it is not reasonably capable of any other practical use and is, therefore, a toy.

The record shows that the instrument is made under instructions from the purchaser to be exactly like larger ones except that it should [134]*134be smaller and cheaper. An examination of the same shows that it is a complete phonograph with horn, disk, needle holder, spring, governor, and all the other essential parts required to make it play the diminutive records provided for the same. It is capable of playing and does play the complete record, possibly with less distinctness and clearness than do the larger and more expensive and solidly built machines, but its deficiency in this regard is only a question of degree.

It is shown that this instrument is manufactured and purchased to be sold at retail for $1. There were a number of illustrative exhibits introduced at the trial below which sell at retail for $2, $3, $5, and $6.50 to $7.50, all of which exhibits are small, cheap phonographs differing in size, workmanship, and expense of material, the more expensive ones being more durable and substantial than the cheaper ones. The tone of the various exhibits seems to improve somewhat in proportion to the increased price.

The article at bar winds in the same manner as the larger ones and plays some of the records played by the larger machines. It is sold in department stores, music stores, mail-order houses, general stores, and the record shows that it is ofttimes sold in the toy department. One of appellants’ witnesses testified that merchandise like that at bar was used in the factory for testing phonograph records.

We conclude upon the record before us that the merchandise involved is a phonograph. It may be a poor one, but, as far as we are advised, it lacks no essential element necessary to entitle it to be regarded as such for tariff purposes. We do not think it is a plaything such as was referred to in the Illfelder case, supra. Although it may be chiefly, if not almost exclusively, used by children, it would seem to fall into the class of articles referred to in United States v. Field, 12 Ct. Cust. Appls. 543, T. D. 40738, as “junior editions,” that is, a small article designed for a small person. To hold the article at bar a toy would, to our way of thinking, necessitate the holding of children’s small, substantially built bicycles to be toys, since they can only be used by children. There are toy bicycles which are readily distinguishable from small bicycles used by children and which are not toys.

In United States v. Field, supra, small tenpins, used by children in playing a game, were held to be “junior editions” of games played by adults and not toys.

In United States v. Strauss, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 167, T. D. 41025, small croquet sets, designed for use in playing the game on a table by either children or adults, were held dutiable as games rather than as toys. In that case we said:

Under United States v. Field & Co., 12 Ct. Cust. Appls. 543, T. D. 40738, it seems clear that Exhibit 39, which consists of a table croquet set hereiofore [135]*135described, is not a toy, but it is a small, complete croquet set, used not as a plaything, necessarily, any more than a boy’s baseball is a plaything, but is the complete outfit for a game played under definite rules and regulations, either by children or adults. This article is no more a toy than is a small bicycle used by a small boy for practical purposes.

Likewise in United States v. August Merckens, 17 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 318, T. D. 43742, small slot or vending machines which delivered chocolate, having slots in which a penny might be dropped, were held not to be toys but machines.

In United States v. Borgfeldt & Co., 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 620, T. D. 41461, we held small, cheap, ornamental music boxes used by children to be musical instruments rather than toys.

See also United States v.

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Mego Corp. v. United States
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19 C.C.P.A. 132, 1931 CCPA LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolf-v-united-states-ccpa-1931.