ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,495,868, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to adidas AG (Herzogenaurach, Germany).
"Baseplate for a shoe" was invented by Jurgen Weidl (Herzogenaurach, Germany), Antonio Jamie Zea Jr. (Baltimore) and Wilfried Ernst Wiederer (Herzogenaurach, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Baseplates for shoes, wherein the baseplate is removably insertable into a shoe upper, and wherein the baseplate includes a substantially planar body, which is configured to provide stability to the shoe upper, and a plurality of tread elements, which are configured to protrude through a respective opening of a plurality of openings in a bottom portion of the shoe ...