ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,310,476, issued on May 27, was assigned to Samsonite IP Holdings S.a r.l. (Luxembourg).

"Luggage article attachment member" was invented by Philip Justin Karl (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Ulliyada Bopanna (Milton, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A luggage article (400, 700) having an attachment member (501, 801) for releasably supporting a second article (401, 701), the luggage article (400, 700) including a first shell (418, 718) and a second shell (420, 720) selectively secured together along a line of connection (426, 726) by a closure mechanism (424, 724), a lock mechanism (600, 900) to selectively engage and disengage the closure mech...