ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,302,979, issued on May 20, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Footwear upper having a unitary knit structure and method of manufacturing" was invented by Michael A. Carriero (Portland, Ore.), Evan W. Jones (Portland, Ore.) and Sanchari Ashishkumar Mahapatra (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A footwear upper has a unitary knit structure with a knit outer face layer, a knit inner face layer, and a knit intermediate layer integrally knit to define forefoot, midfoot, and heel regions of the footwear upper. The knit intermediate layer is disposed between the knit outer face layer and the knit inner face layer at a plur...