THK America, Inc. v. US, Court No. 90-09-00488.
| Decision Date | 01 November 1993 |
| Docket Number | Court No. 90-09-00488. |
| Citation | 17 CIT 1169,837 F. Supp. 427 |
| Parties | THK AMERICA, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of International Trade |
Sonnenberg, Anderson & Rodriguez, Steven P. Sonnenberg and Jacqueline M. Paez, Chicago, IL, for plaintiff.
Frank W. Hunger, Asst. Atty. Gen., Joseph I. Liebman, Atty. in Charge, Intern. Trade Field Office, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civ. Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, and Saul Davis, Sr. Trial Atty., of counsel: Stephen Berke, U.S. Customs Service, Washington, DC, for defendant.
This action comes before the Court after trial de novo on November 10-24, 1992. Plaintiff, THK America, Inc. ("THK"), challenges the United States Customs Service's ("Customs") classification of plaintiff's imports of Linear Motion Guide Systems ("LMGs") as ball bearings pursuant to Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTSUS") 8482.10.50. The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(a) (1988).
The merchandise at issue, the Linear Motion Guide System, consists of two main components: a steel block and a matching rail. The LMG's block is composed of a hardened steel block, four rows of steel balls, a retainer, plastic end plates, rubber seals and a grease nipple. The block moves in a linear fashion along the rail while supporting a load. The balls in the steel block act as an antifriction device and facilitate accurate positioning of the load. Plaintiff's Exhibits 1, 2, 3.
The balls in the steel block recirculate along four elliptical paths. These paths are comprised of a loading zone and an unloading zone. The loading zone is the portion of the path formed by grooves ground into the block and along the rail. This is the zone where contact between the steel block and the rail occurs through the balls. Trial Transcript ("T.T.") at 170. The unloading zone consists of elbow-shaped paths at the end plates and a return tube drilled through the block. It allows recirculation of the balls but does not support any load. Id.
The rail of the LMG is a steel "T-shaped" rail. The top portion of the rail has four longitudinal grooves ground into it. Id. at 417. These grooves are "crowned." Crowning is the slight angling at the sides of the longitudinal grooves which helps to prevent drastic deformation of the steel balls as they enter the loading zone that could produce unwanted vibrations in the system when moving the load. When the block moves along the rail, the recirculating balls travel along these grooves from a loaded to an unloaded state. Holes are drilled through the rail and also through the block to facilitate mounting of these components to a bed and table respectively. Id. at 232, 416-17.
LMGs are sometimes used in configurations of multiple blocks and rails, e.g., two rails and four blocks or one rail and two blocks. These various configurations allow each block to share equally in the absorption of erratic movements caused by distorted mounting surfaces. Id. at 286-88, 293, 432-33, 652.
Each combination of blocks and rails is a unique set. They are made and sold together. A user can install the system by mounting the rail onto the surface of a bed and mounting the table on the block. Id. at 153, 164.
THK has been shipping this type of merchandise to the United States since the early 1970's. LMGs are mainly used by the machine tool and automotive industries in machine tools that require high accuracy in positioning control. Id. at 28. As the machine tool industry in the United States began to decline, THK shifted its marketing strategies and targeted its sales toward other industries which require high accuracy in positioning control. Examples of machine tools utilizing LMGs include lathes, welding robots, "pick and place" robots, and x-ray machines and tables. Id. at 31, 33-39; see Plaintiff's Exhibits 7, 9, 10, 11.
LMGs were developed to replace the conventional slide, commonly known as the slide bearing or plain bearing. T.T. at 189, 370. A slide is a positioning mechanism used to transport and position machinery parts in a linear direction. A slide basically consists of a sliding saddle, antifriction material and a sliding guide surface. Id. at 203; Plaintiff's Exhibit 33. Conventional slides are limited in their positioning accuracy due to the magnitude of friction encountered in various applications and the need for clearance between the parts of the slide to overcome this friction. Clearance in a slide is the open space between the two sliding surfaces which allows for the introduction of a lubricant which reduces friction. Clearance is essential for the slides' movement but may cause the load to move erratically thus degrading positioning accuracy. T.T. at 208-09. All conventional slides have various degrees of clearance which produce a different range of accuracy in positioning. Id. at 562-64.
THK's LMGs were developed from the ball bushing. Plaintiff's Exhibit 28. A ball bushing is cylindrical in shape and encompasses six rows of balls rolling in a longitudinal direction on the inner surface of the ball bushing. The load that a ball bushing can carry is small. T.T. at 191. The ball bushing travels linearly on a cylindrical shaft.
From ball bushings, THK developed the ball spline. This product is a cylinder containing six rows of balls which roll in a longitudinal direction on the inside of the ball spline. This cylinder fits over a circular shaft with three longitudinal projections with grooves on each side of the projections. The rows of balls in the cylinder grab the grooved projections on the shaft. The ball spline also moves linearly along the cylindrical shaft but has greater positioning rigidity and load capacity than the ball bushing. Id. at 191-92; Plaintiff's Exhibit 31. A series of improved LMGs were subsequently developed from the ball spline. Each new LMG provided a greater load capacity, greater rigidity and greater accuracy in terms of the movement and positioning of loads. T.T. at 193-201; Plaintiff's Exhibit 28.
In its catalogs and brochures prior to 1986, THK described its linear bearings, including LMGs, as antifriction bearings and linear bearings. Defendant's Exhibits A-E. It advertised its LMGs to the machine tool industry as "the Very Best in Japanese Linear Bearing Technology." Plaintiff's Exhibit 4; T.T. at 18-19. Plaintiff's witness, Mr. Yoichi Matsushita, Executive Vice President of THK America, testified that in 1986 THK began changing its marketing strategy and stopped referring to these products as antifriction bearings or linear bearings and started to refer to them solely as Linear Motion Guide Systems. Id. at 28-29.
In addition, the patents for LMGs described and categorized LMGs as "linear ball bearing unit"; "linear motion ball bearing unit"; "linear ball bearing"; "linear slide ball bearing"; "recirculating ball linear bearing"; "linear sliding ball bearing" and "rectilinear slide ball bearing." Defendant's Exhibits L1-L10.
On December 5, 1977, Customs issued Headquarters Ruling 053086 classifying products similar to THK's LMGs under item 680.90 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States ("TSUS") which provided in part "machinery parts not containing electrical features and not specifically provided for." Plaintiff's Exhibit 13. On June 3, 1983, Customs issued a new Headquarters Ruling 072587 changing the classification of linear motion bearings from TSUS 680.90 to TSUS 680.39, the provision for ball and roller bearings. Defendant's Exhibit M1. This ruling was intended to encompass all imported linear bearings including THK's LMGs. T.T. at 467. However, between 1982 and 1988, THK continued to import its LMGs under TSUS 680.90, the tariff classification for machinery parts not specifically provided for which was in use prior to the entry into effect of the HTSUS on January 1, 1989, at the ports of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Plaintiff's Exhibit 15.
On August 18, 1988, Customs issued a letter ruling to THK informing them that their LMGs were classifiable as ball bearings. Customs reasoned that the primary function of the LMG was "friction reduction, other features such as stability and rigidity are by-products of this bearing construction." Plaintiff's Exhibit 14. THK has since entered and liquidated its LMGs using the HTSUS ball bearing provisions. The entries at issue in this case were entered after the August 18, 1988 ruling.
Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §§ 1514, 1515 (1988), THK timely filed protests of Customs' classifications which were denied and this action ensued.
Customs classified the merchandise at issue pursuant to the following HTSUS heading:
8482 Ball or roller bearings, and
parts thereof
8482.10 Ball bearings
8482.10.50 Other..........11%
Plaintiff argues that Customs' classification is wrong and believes the merchandise should be classified under the following HTSUS heading:
8485 Machinery parts, not containing
electrical connectors, insulators
coils, contacts or other electrical
features, and not specified or included
elsewhere in this chapter
8485.90.00 Other ........................ 5.7%
Discussion
Pursuant to Rule 7(f) of the Rules of this Court, a request to strike all or a portion of a party's submissions to the Court should be made as a separate motion to strike. Plaintiff's counsel has incorrectly made a motion to strike as part of plaintiff's reply brief. However, the Court will treat plaintiff's incorrectly submitted request to strike as a motion to strike properly filed under USCIT R. 7(f). Plaintiff's Reply Brief at 1-7.
This court has stated that:
The granting of a motion to strike constitutes an extraordinary remedy, and should be granted only in cases where there has been a flagrant disregard of the rules of court. Accord Application of Harrington, 55 CCPA 1459, 1462, 392 F.2d 653,...
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