Middle Tennessee

• U.S. Patent No. D659,183, entitled “Wireless electric guitar” invented by Henry E. Juszkiewicz of Nashville and assigned to Gibson Guitar Corp. of Nashville.

• U.S. Patent No. D659,141, entitled “Stylus” invented by Michael Watson of Nashville.

• U.S. Patent No. D659,003, entitled “Container” invented by Frederick V. Knox of Gallatin.

• U.S. Patent No. D658,944, entitled “Beverage container” invented by Randy Sims of Franklin and Tyler Sean Gilbert of Bellevue, Wash., and assigned to Pacific Market International, LLC, of Seattle, Wash.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,175,352, entitled “System and method for automated magnetic resonance scan prescription for optic nerves” invented by Qing Xu of Nashville, Li Zhang of Skillman, N.J., and Chong Chen of Palo Alto, Cal., and assigned to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft of Munich, F.R.G.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,175,078, entitled “Redundant pseudowires between Ethernet access domains” invented by William Mark Townsley of Nashville and Eric Voit of Bethesda, Cal., and assigned to Cisco Technology Inc. of San Jose, Cal.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,174,155, entitled “Stepping motor with a coded pole pattern” invented by James Lee Richards of Fayetteville, Larry W. Fullerton of New Hope, Ala., and Mark Roberts of Huntsville, Ala., and assigned to Correlated Magnetics Research LLC of New Hope, Ala.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,320, entitled “Impact absorption block for vehicle seatback assembly” invented by David Kalinowski of Ferndale, Mich., and assigned to Nissan North America Inc. of Franklin.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,092, entitled “Filter having melt-blown and electrospun fibers” invented by Thomas B. Green of Liberty Township, Ohio, and Lei Li of West Chester, Ohio, and assigned to Clarcor Inc. of Franklin.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,051, entitled “Friction material for brakes” invented by Vijay Subramanian of Murfreesboro, and assigned to Federal-Mogul Products Inc. of Southfield, Mich.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,171,927, entitled “Burner cap flame stabilization chamber” invented by William M. Pryor of Portland, John Pottenger of Hendersonville, Uwe Harneit of Chino Hills, Cal., Hector J. Donastorg of Waverly, Ala., and Michael Padgett of Austin, Ky., and assigned to Electrolux Home Products Inc. of Charlotte, N.C.

East Tennessee

• U.S. Patent No. D659,333, entitled “Pail lid” invented by Glenn H. Morris Jr. of Chattanooga.

• U.S. Patent No. D658,846, entitled “Confection” invented by William Jason Greer of Chattanooga, Paul Francis Regan of Rockaway, N.J., and Puja Minotti of Hackettstown, N.J., and assigned to Mars Inc. of McLean, Va.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,174,402, entitled “Machine condition indication system” invented by Kai Bouse of Tellico Plains, Stewart V. Bowers III of Knoxville, Jim Robinson of Knoxville, Richard Piety of Knoxville, and Todd Reeves of Knoxville, and assigned to CSI Technology Inc. of Wilmington, Del.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,173,836, entitled “Method and apparatus for drying carboxylic acid” invented by Kenny Randolph Parker of Afton and Philip Edward Gibson of Kingsport, and assigned to Grupo Petrotemex, S.A., De C.V. of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,173,835, entitled “Method and apparatus for drying carboxylic acid” invented by Kenny Randolph Parker of Afton and Philip Edward Gibson of Kingsport, and assigned to Grupo Petrotemex, S.A., De C.V. of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mex.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,173,208, entitled “Method for producing dustless graphite spheres from waste graphite fines” invented by Peter J. Pappano of Oak Ridge and Michael R. Rogers of Clinton, and assigned to UT-Battelle LLC of Oak Ridge.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,930, entitled “Cleanable in situ spark arrestor” invented by Michael P. Barkdoll of Knoxville and assigned to SunCoke Technology and Development LLC of Lisle, Ill.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,448, entitled “Method and apparatus for adapting asphalt dryer/mixer to minimize asphalt build-up” invented by Larry W. Hudman of Ooltewah, J. Greg Renegar of Ooltewah, and Michael C. Varner of East Ridge, and assigned to Astec Inc. of Chattanooga.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,187, entitled “Stand for hanging planter” invented by Wilson A. Felknor of Lenoir City and Jim Ferron of Loudon, and assigned to Felknor Ventures LLC of Knoxville.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,171,875, entitled “Owl with intermittent powered movement” invented by E. Neal Caldwell of Knoxville and John Kevin Hodges of Powell, and assigned to Dalen Products, Inc. of Knoxville.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,171,842, entitled “Two-piece twist lock piston” invented by Steve Walker of Talbott and Philip Vaden of Strawberry Plains and assigned to Mahle International GmbH, F.R.G.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,171,775, entitled “Material permeance measurement system and method” invented by Russell Louis Hallman, Jr. of Knoxville and Michael John Renner of Oak Ridge and assigned to Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12 LLC of Oak Ridge.

West Tennessee

Smith & Nephew Inc. of Memphis had two patents issued:

1. U.S. Patent No. D659,165, entitled “Pump assembly” invented by Fred Boussu of West Newbury, Mass., Ed McLean of Billerica, Mass., Kevin Ryczek of Barrington, N.H., and Sean Albert of Barrington, N.H., and assigned to Smith & Nephew Inc. of Memphis.

2. U.S. Patent No. 8,172,958, entitled “Method of manufacturing a diffusion-hardened medical implant” invented by Vivek Pawar of Germantown, Shilesh C. Jani of Germantown, and Carolyn Weaver of Collierville, and assigned to Smith & Nephew Inc. of Memphis.

Other patents naming inventors from West Tennessee:

• U.S. Patent No. D659,219, entitled “Barrel tip and spring guide set” invented by Todd Coulter of Germantown and Spencer Hart of Germantown.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,175,677, entitled “MRI-guided medical interventional systems and methods” invented by Kimble L. Jenkins of Memphis, David John Sayler of Portland, Ore., Raffaele Mazzei of Encinitas, Cal., and Peter Piferi of Orange, Cal., and assigned to MRI Interventions Inc. of Memphis.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,174,177, entitled “Segmented conductive coating for a luminescent display device” invented by Farzad Parsapour of Bartlett, David Paul Ciampa of Lancaster, Pa., and Samuel Paul Benigni of Lititz, Pa., and assigned to Thomson Licensing of Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,172,888, entitled “Thermal pack having a comfort fit” invented by Stephen Michael Beavers of Bartlett and Jed Cowell of Bartlett.

• U.S. Patent No. 8,171,695, entitled “Arm connection for a structural member” invented by Aubrey Jackson of Germantown, David Nahlen of Germantown, Jim Palmer of Arlington, and Timothy Stephens of Birmingham, Ala., and assigned to Thomas & Betts International Inc. of Wilmington, Del.

Compiled by Matthew C. Cox of intellectual property law firm Waddey & Patterson P.C.