ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,511,672, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to Clarovia Hodlings Inc. (Bainbridge Island, Wash.).

"Systems and methods for using smart contracts to control the trade, supply, manufacture, and distribution of commodities" was invented by Joseph D. Preston (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), Dan Alan Preston (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), Trinitie Marie Vance (Indianola, Wash.), Brett C. Simpson (Richland, Wash.), Peter Albert Madakson (Tacoma, Wash.) and William R. Rieger (Atlanta).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present principles are directed to systems and methods for providing a trading system cooperatively integrated with manufacturing control a...