ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,312,015, issued on May 27, was assigned to Magna Exteriors Inc. (Aurora, Canada).
"Modular tailgate" was invented by Anthony J. Povinelli (Romeo, Mich.), Martin R. Matthews (Troy, Mich.), Mark P. Birka (Northville, Mich.) and Michael A. West (Howell, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A modular gate combined with multiple functions which can be easily employed with existing tailgates without any hardware or mounting modifications to existing truck beds. There is provided a modular tailgate system having a tailgate portion in combination with a plurality of functions. The modular tailgate system integrates any combinations of at least t...