ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,708,179, issued on Aug. 18, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Cushioned upper for an article of footwear" was invented by Yuchung K. Chen (Portland, Ore.), Jeremy L. Connell (Hillsboro, Ore.), Dervin A. James (Hillsboro, Ore.), Tetsuya T. Minami (Portland, Ore.), Arthur Parker Molinari (Portland, Ore.), Stuart Reinhardt (Beaverton, Ore.), Timothy J. Smith (Portland, Ore.) and Matthew Tegenkamp (Beaverton, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An upper for an article of footwear includes an inner boot having an ankle opening and an instep region formed between the ankle opening and an anterior end of the upper and a cushioning m...