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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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073189
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07318900.008
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1990-09-17
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BUSINESS, Page 41Business NotesTOYSSoldier Boy, You're a Doll
Ask any eight-year-old boy if he wants to play with dolls, and
he may paste you one. Better not tell him that a court has ruled
that his GI Joe is a doll. Hasbro, which introduced GI Joe in 1964,
has always used macho euphemisms like "action figure" to describe
the soldier. Since 1982, though, when Hasbro began importing its
GI Joe toys from Hong Kong, the U.S. Customs Service has classified
it as a doll.
Under Customs rules, imported dolls are subject to a 12% import
tariff, while toy soldiers are not. The U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia has now upheld Customs, reasoning that,
like other dolls, GI Joe is "a representation of a human being used
as a child's plaything." But for little boys everywhere, said
Donald Robbins, the firm's general counsel, "GI Joe is still one
of the guys."