ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,471,661, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to NIKE Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.).
"Footwear article with collar elevator" was invented by Timothy P. Hopkins (Lake Oswego, Ore.), Austin J. Orand (Portland, Ore.), Wade Flanagan (Portland, Ore.), Aaron B. Weast (Portland, Ore.) and Peter P. Williams II (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A footwear article includes a footwear upper defining a foot-receiving cavity with a heel region and defining an ankle opening, the footwear upper including an ankle collar at the ankle opening. The footwear article has a sole structure secured to the footwear upper and underlying the foot-receiving cavit...