ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,324,480, issued on June 10, was assigned to ASICS Corp. (Kobe, Japan).
"Sole and footwear" was invented by Keita Ozawa (Kobe, Japan), Yoshihito Tahira (Kobe, Japan), Genki Hatano (Kobe, Japan), Yousuke Atarashi (Kobe, Japan), Shingo Masumoto (Kobe, Japan), Keishi Kitamoto (Kobe, Japan) and Hiroki Nakamura (Kobe, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A sole constituting a part of footwear includes a shock-absorbing part provided at least in a rearfoot region, the shock-absorbing part cushioning an impact applied to a heel of a foot upon landing, and a support part provided at least in a midfoot region, the support part being higher in rigi...