The Houston Corporation, a Corporation v. United States

Plaintiff-appellant sued (and lost) in the district court to recover from the United States excise taxes in the amount of $18,037.64 paid in the year 1948. The taxes were paid on the sales of 21 camera cranes, 21 sets of wheel locks and 21 camera tables. The three classes of objects were listed and taxed separately. But together a crane, table and set of wheel locks make up a unit upon which ordinarily a commercial studio motion picture camera is placed. Two persons usually sit on the table with the camera when operating the latter.

The camera crane is described as the third stage of development in bases for large motion picture cameras. First, there was the tripod. The dolly, a wheeled platform, came next. Lastly, the camera crane was developed. It is a counterbalanced arm on a sort of post pivot. It moves up and down or horizontally and seems to have many desirable attributes for filming pictures. Apparently the device has no commercial use except for motion picture work and for “live” television broadcasts where a smaller interchangeable table is used on the crane.

We think it fair to say that here again we have another lawsuit precipitated by the revolution in the…