US 9918511

Patent Overview — US 9,918,511 B2

Title: "Article of footwear having a textile upper"

Patent number / application: US 9,918,511 B2; Application No. US 15/664,587; earlier publication US 2017/0325535 A1.

Inventors: Bhupesh Dua and Edward Nathaniel Thomas.

Assignee: Nike, Inc. (originally and current listed assignee; assignment recorded 2017-09-18).

Key dates: Priority date 2004-03-03; filing date 2017-07-31; publication of application 2017-11-16; granted 2018-03-20; anticipated expiration 2024-03-03. Legal status listed as "Expired - Fee Related."

Purpose and plain-language scope: The patent concerns footwear characterized by its material, specifically an upper made using textile techniques. Its classifications point to footwear made of fibers or fabrics (A43B1/02), including braided, knotted, knitted, or crocheted constructions (A43B1/04), and to uppers (A43B23/02), including one-piece uppers (A43B23/04, A43B23/042), layered or laminated constructions (A43B23/0235, A43B23/026), and uppers having different properties in different directions, including a relatively rigid portion resisting articulation or torsion (A43B23/0265, A43B23/0275). The prior-art keyword list — "knit," "strip," "textile," "property," "footwear" — indicates a knitted textile upper in which differing properties (for example, stiffness or rigidity) are engineered into different regions.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9918511/en

What this excerpt does not establish: It contains no claims, no written description, and no drawings or reference numerals, so the precise claimed scope cannot be determined here. The classifications, keywords, and dates are as listed by the source (which notes its legal-status and priority-date entries are assumptions, not legal conclusions). Because litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, and prior-art analysis were excluded, nothing here should be read as a finding on those matters. The excerpt also does not explain how the recited properties are achieved or which materials are used.

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