ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,437,262, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to Fasteners for Retail Inc. (Twinsburg, Ohio).

"Anti-sweeping hook with integrated inventory monitoring and/or loss prevention functionality" was invented by Brent O. Ewing (Roscoe, Ill.), Chan Chor Man (Hong Kong, Hong Kong), Yun Hua (Solon, Ohio) and Jeffrey A. Comstock (Edgerton, Wis.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Anti-sweeping hook with a display hook, a helical coil, and rotating handle. The display hook may be straight with a first end and second end opposite the first end. The helical coil is disposed about the display hook and extends lengthwise along the display hook. The helical coil has...