ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,540,103, issued on Feb. 3, was assigned to Comadur SA (Le Locle, Switzerland).

"Method for the three-dimensional decoration of a substrate to produce an external part" was invented by Damien Le Boudouil (Valdahon, France).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for the three-dimensional decoration of a substrate (11) to produce an external part (10), which method includes the steps of: depositing an enamel base layer (12) on an external surface (110) of a ceramic substrate (11); firing the substrate (11) covered with the base layer (12); etching the base layer (12) in a predefined decorative pattern to generate one or more blind cavities; ...