US Patent Issued to NIKE on Feb. 25 for "Bladders, footwear uppers including bladders, and articles of footwear including bladders in the upper" (Oregon Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,232,566, issued on Feb. 25, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Bladders, footwear uppers including bladders, and articles of footwear including bladders in the upper" was invented by Patrick R. Case (Portland, Ore.), Yoon Jeong Choi (Portland, Ore.), James Molyneux (Portland, Ore.), Colin Runkle (Portland, Ore.) and Bryan K. Youngs (Beaverton, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Footwear uppers and articles of footwear including such uppers include: (a) a first lateral lace-engaging component; (b) a first medial lace-engaging component; and (c) a bladder. The bladder includes: (i) a tongue and/or instep chamber having a first ...