ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,376,645, issued on Aug. 5, was assigned to Lululemon Athletica Canada Inc. (Vancouver, Canada).
"Outsoles having traction inserts" was invented by George Alan Robusti (Portland, Ore.), Franklin Grant Kovach (Portland, Ore.), Christopher Ka-Yin Lam (Portland, Ore.), Mark Arthur Oleson (Portland, Ore.) and Heather Patricia Pieraldi (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An article of footwear may include an outsole having an opening extending from a top face of the outsole to a ground-contacting face of the outsole, and a traction member disposed within the opening in the outsole. The traction member has a protruding portion and fla...