‘Dump’ Suit Against Japan Firms Killed

The Supreme Court today killed a lawsuit by American businesses that charges Japanese electronics manufacturers with illegally “dumping” television sets and other products in the United States at artificially low prices.

The court, without comment, refused to revive a suit filed by Zenith and National Union Electric Corp., formerly known as Emerson Radio Co.

The court’s action comes at a time when trade tensions between the United States and Japan, this nation’s second-largest trading partner, are growing.

There has been a rising chorus in Congress for protectionism. And the Reagan Administration on April 17 slapped $300 million in punitive duties on some Japanese personal computers, televisions and power tools.

Alleged Pact Violation

The Administration, imposing 100% tariffs on the Japanese imports, said it was retaliating for the alleged violation of a computer chip trade agreement.

The case acted on today stems from a 17-year-old antitrust lawsuit that the high court also reviewed in March, 1986.

In a 5-4 ruling then, the justices spared Japanese manufacturers from having to defend themselves against business conspiracy charges.

The 1986 ruling said the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia mistakenly ordered a trial in which the American businesses sought billions of dollars from their Japanese competitors.

But the high court left it to the appeals court to decide whether there was new evidence that would warrant a trial. The appeals court responded last December by throwing out the suit against the Japanese companies.

New Plot Evidence

Zenith and National Union again appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that there was new evidence to indicate a Japanese conspiracy.

Television imports from the Far East account for nearly three-fourths of the color sets sold in the United States. Only Zenith and RCA are making TVs domestically, the American businesses said.

The Japanese competitors’ “low prices in the United States coincided with expansion of their production facilities far beyond the capacity needed to serve the Japanese market, which was closed to competition from non-Japanese manufacturers by a system of tariff and non-tariff barriers,” lawyers for the American businesses said.