ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,303,767, issued on May 20, was assigned to INA INTERNATIONAL LTD. (Calgary, Canada).
"Hockey pants with floating abdominal protection" was invented by Stan Clark (Calgary, Canada), Nicole Wiart (Toronto), Eric Lemieux (Saint-Sauveur, Canada) and Dan Rich (Calgary, Canada).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Hockey pants having a floating pad for protecting the abdominals are provided. The pad may be connected indirectly to the hockey pants by means of one or more flexible bands which together comprise a belt connected to the lateral edges of the pad. The pad is also positionable at various heights on the front of the abdominals depending on th...