US Patent Issued to NIKE on March 18 for "Sole structures and/or articles of footwear having expandable lugs for engaging footwear components together" (Oregon Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,250,991, issued on March 18, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).

"Sole structures and/or articles of footwear having expandable lugs for engaging footwear components together" was invented by Courtney M. Wright (Portland, Ore.), Laura C. Marshala (Portland, Ore.), Keith T. Kuntz (Portland, Ore.) and Jessica Junkins (Portland, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Articles of footwear include one or more expandable lugs (e.g., inflatable lugs) to hold at least some footwear component parts together. The expandable lug(s) may be included as part of an impact force-attenuating component (e.g., a fluid-filled bladder) for the article...