US Patent Issued to NIKE on April 22 for "Airbag for article of footwear" (Oregon Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,279,671, issued on April 22, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Airbag for article of footwear" was invented by Can Eldem (Portland, Ore.), Wade Flanagan (Portland, Ore.), Craig Fredrick (Portland, Ore.), Ryan Nyberg (Portland, Ore.) and Jessica Small (Portland, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A sole structure for an article of footwear having a heel region, a mid-foot region, a forefoot region, an interior region, and a peripheral region. The sole structure including a bladder having a chamber including an arcuate segment extending around the heel region, a first segment extending along the peripheral region on a medial si...