ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 2 -- United States Patent no. 12,484,656, issued on Dec. 2, was assigned to adidas AG (Herzogenaurach, Germany).
"Upper for a shoe with a ball contact area" was invented by Rohan Abel (Nuremberg, Germany), Jose Munoz (Nuremberg, Germany), Benjamin Alexander Thompsett (Nuremberg, Germany), Rupert Malein (Nuremberg, Germany), Andreas Hierl (Nuremberg, Germany) and Raphael Curet (Nuremberg, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An upper for a shoe, in particular a sports shoe, comprising a ball contact area comprising a plurality of protrusions. Each protrusion of the plurality of protrusions has an elongated shape with a longitudinal axis, a sole facing side portion and a...