US Patent Issued to NIKE on Feb. 17 for "Footwear including uppers with midfoot and/or forefoot supporting members" (Oregon Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,550,980, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Footwear including uppers with midfoot and/or forefoot supporting members" was invented by Yoon Jeong Choi (Portland, Ore.), Carl L. Madore (Portland, Ore.) and Matthew J. Plumb (Beaverton, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Footwear uppers include: (a) a first upper member (formed from one or more component parts) including: one or more lace-engaging openings formed as elongated through hole openings with a length dimension extending in a top-to-bottom direction of the upper and a width dimension extending in a heel-to-toe direction of the upper, and wherein the ...