US 'Entirely Wrong' That Paint Nozzles Aren't Heat Sink Manifolds, Importer Says

Defending its motion for judgment (see 2405300059), a paint nozzle parts importer again said Nov. 13 that its products are “fabricated heat sinks made from aluminum extrusions” and that they do have specified thermal performance requirements (Wagner Spray Tech Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00241).

Importer Wagner Spray Tech brought its case to the Court of International Trade saying that a Commerce Department scope ruling wrongly held its products to be aluminum extrusions instead of manifold heat sinks, and thus covered by an antidumping duty order on aluminum extrusions from China (see 2312200049). In response, the U.S. argued that Commerce correctly identified the products as a “pump block,” which houses “essential components of the paint sprayers that regulate the flow and pressure of paint.” The pump blocks include a manifold heat sink component, but that isn’t their primary purpose, it said.

But “the Government is entirely wrong,” Wagner said; it acknowledged, however, that its products are “dual purpose.”

Wagner said if the products, which both sides called part 805-324, weren’t heat sinks, they wouldn’t function. Instead, “the motor and pc board would overheat and the sprayer would not function.” And if the part wasn’t hollow, again, “paint could not flow through it and the sprayer also would not function.”

The government, in claiming the primary purpose of the part is to spray paint, was elevating the “hollow shape” of the part over its capabilities as a heat sink. But Wagner said that the “design, production and testing” of part 805-324 revolved “almost entirely” around its purpose as a heat sink.

The government also claimed that Wagner’s product didn’t have specified thermal performance requirements, necessary for manifold heat sinks. The heat sink component part of the pump block did, Wagner said, but only that part; the rest of the pump block hadn’t been adequately tested, it said.

Again, the government was wrong, Wagner said. It characterized DOJ’s argument as making the claim that “having thermal requirements that the heat sink manifold must satisfy for the sprayer and the PC Board and Motor it is attached to to dissipate heat from is not a ‘specified thermal performance requirement.’”

But the standard for products that must meet certain performance requirements isn’t clearly defined by the order, nor by case law, it said.

In particular, it noted that the International Trade Commission's final report "does not explain, describe, or detail what type of thermal performance standards are required for finished heat sinks; nor does it give any examples." Commerce was similarly silent on the issue, it said.

In this case, part 805-324 sink manifolds must meet the performance requirement of keeping the entire assembly below certain temperatures, it said. This, it said, should be enough for the court to find that the products have "specified thermal performance requirements."