ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,553, issued on May 13, was assigned to Gold Bond Building Products LLC (Charlotte, N.C.).

"Sound damping gypsum board and method of constructing a sound damping gypsum board" was invented by Joseph J. Bailey (Charlotte, N.C.), Eli Stav (Charlotte, N.C.), Richard Weir (Indian Trail, N.C.) and R. G. Iyer (Charlotte, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention is directed to an improved gypsum board, such as an improved sound damping gypsum board. The gypsum board comprises a gypsum core including gypsum and a sound damping polymer. The gypsum core includes a first gypsum layer surface and a second gypsum layer surface opp...