Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States

Taiwanese company Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. (Cyber) (plaintiff) manufactured goods that were imported into the United States and sold to American consumers. Cyber’s multiple models of uninterruptible power supplies and one model of surge voltage protector were made using components primarily produced in China. However, Cyber’s products were assembled, connected, and tested at Cyber’s facility in the Philippines, which Cyber opened in 2018 after the United States (defendant) announced higher tariffs on products imported from China, where Cyber’s previous production facility was located. When Cyber imported its products from the Philippines to the United States, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determined that the products’ country of origin was China and that the products needed to be marked as such. Disagreeing, Cyber told its customs broker that it planned to continue marking its products as made in the Philippines. CBP subsequently detained certain imported products, notifying Cyber that it needed to remark them. When Cyber refused, the products were deemed excluded under the Tariff Act of 1930. Cyber protested, arguing that the processes performed at its Philippine facility substantially transformed its products into products of Philippine origin that were distinct from their Chinese components. After CBP denied Cyber’s protest, Cyber sued the United States in the United States Court of International Trade, seeking a determination that its products’ country of origin for marking purposes was the Philippines. Both parties moved for summary judgment.