Consumer Products Division, SCM Corp. v. Silver Reed America, Inc.

753 F.2d 1033 (1985)

From our private database of 46,200+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Consumer Products Division, SCM Corp. v. Silver Reed America, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
753 F.2d 1033 (1985)

Facts

United States antidumping statutes required the imposition of antidumping duties on foreign merchandise sold in the United States for less than its fair value if the unfair pricing injured United States producers. The amount of the duty equaled the difference between the foreign market value (FMV) and the United States sale price (USP), the so-called dumping margin. If the exporter and importer were unrelated, the USP was the price paid to the exporter by the importer. If the exporter and the importer were related, the USP was based on the exporter’s United States sale price (ESP). Under § 1677b(a)(4)(B), prices were adjusted due to “circumstances of sale.” In 1979, Congress stated that adjustments should be allowed if reasonably quantifiable and directly related to sales. Since 1960, the secretary of commerce (secretary), charged with implementing antidumping law, limited deductions from the FMV under the circumstances-of-sale provision to direct costs of the sale. The limit stopped foreign producers from claiming such extensive deductions that dumping margins vanished. However, the statute required deductions of some indirect costs from the ESP, reducing the ESP and inflating the dumping margin. To compensate, the secretary provided an ESP offset cap, 19. C.F.R. § 353.15(c), allowing deduction of indirect costs from the FMV, but only to the extent that the same amount of indirect costs incurred in the United States was deductible from the ESP. In proceedings involving the secretary, Smith Corona Group’s Consumer Products Division (Smith Corona) (plaintiff), and Silver Seiko and its United States subsidiary (collectively, Silver Seiko) (defendants), an appellate court rejected Smith Corona’s argument that indirect expenses were not deductible. As the proceedings continued, Silver Seiko challenged the ESP offset cap in the United States Court of International Trade, arguing that exporters should be allowed to deduct all indirect costs from the FMV of the same type as those deductible from the ESP, not limited as to amount. The court ruled that the ESP offset cap was invalid because it did not result in a fair comparison of the ESP and the FMV.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Nies, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 796,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials
  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 796,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 796,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,200 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership