ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,256,797, issued on March 25, was assigned to Safer Sports LLC (Carlsbad, Calif.).
"Soft shell helmet" was invented by Nicholas Esayian (Encinitas, Calif.), Justin Bert (Encinitas, Calif.) and Michael Landry (Austin, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A helmet includes a shell having an inner surface and an outer surface. The inner surface defines a cavity sized to receive a head of a user. The shell is formed from a resilient material. The helmet additionally includes at least two slots formed in the shell and located at respective lateral portions of the shell, with each slot extending from the outer surface toward the inner surface....