ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,589,555, issued on March 31, was assigned to Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Duesseldorf, Germany).

"Direct application of thermosetting composite surfacing films to UV-treated thermoplastic surfaces and related composite structures" was invented by Sina Chaeichian (Walnut Creek, Calif.), Kaspar Schaerer (Walnut Creek, Calif.), Ruairi O'Kane (Oakland, Calif.), Li Li (Walnut Creek, Calif.), Michael D. Halbasch (Antioch, Calif.), Martin Renkel (Duesseldorf, Germany), Omar L. Abu-Shanab (Rochester Hills, Mich.), Brian Deegan (Blessington, Ireland) and Anna Esmeralda Javier (Eden Prairie, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "This disclosure is direct...