US Patent Issued to NIKE on Sept. 30 for "Sole structure for article of footwear" (Oregon Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,426,681, issued on Sept. 30, was assigned to NIKE Inc..

"Sole structure for article of footwear" was invented by Ross Klein (Portland, Ore.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A sole structure includes a foam element extending from a forefoot region to a heel region. A bottom surface of the foam element includes a recess formed in the forefoot region. The sole structure also includes a cushioning arrangement disposed in the recess of the foam element. The cushioning arrangement has a proximal end adjacent to the bottom surface of the foam element and a distal end formed on an opposite side of the cushioning arrangement than the proximal end,...