Michael Jackson's US Patent 5255452 : Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion
The first claim of Michael Jackson's US patent was to a system:
A system for engaging shoes with a hitch mans to permit a person standing on a stage surface to lean forwardly beyond his or her center of gravity, comprising:
at least one shoe having a heel with a first engagement means, said first engagement means comprising a recess formed in a heel of said shoe covered with a heel slot plane located at a bottom region of said heel, said heel slot plate having a slot formed therein with a relatively wide opening at a leading edge of said heel and a narrower terminal end rearward of said leading edge, said recess being larger in size above said terminal end of said slot than is said terminal end of said slot; and
a second engagement means, detachably engageable with said first engagement means, comprising a hitch member having an enlarged head portion connected by a narrower shank portion to a means for raising and lowering said head of said hitch member above and substantially level with or below said stage surface, said head portion being larger in size than said terminal end of said slot and said shank portion being narrower than said terminal end of said slot, wherein said hitch member can be moved through apertures in said stage surface between a projecting position raised above said stage surface and a retracted position at or below the stage surface, and when said head portion of said hitch member is raised above said stage surface, said first engagement means can be detachably engaged with said projecting hitch member, thereby allowing a person wearing the shoes to lean forwardly with his or her normal center of gravity beyond a front region of said shoes, and maintain said forward lean.
The patent expired on Dec 20, 2005 for failure to pay maintenance fees.
The Jackson patent was cited by Northrop Grumman Corporation in US patent 5498161 .
Separately from topix.com on trade secrets, a lawsuit by Nike.
The lawsuit alleges former designers Denis Dekovic , Marc Dolce and Mark Miner "conspired" to steal trade secrets, strategic plans and product designs and convinced Adidas to hire them to build a facsimile of Nike's famed innovation lab, known as the Kitchen
A system for engaging shoes with a hitch mans to permit a person standing on a stage surface to lean forwardly beyond his or her center of gravity, comprising:
at least one shoe having a heel with a first engagement means, said first engagement means comprising a recess formed in a heel of said shoe covered with a heel slot plane located at a bottom region of said heel, said heel slot plate having a slot formed therein with a relatively wide opening at a leading edge of said heel and a narrower terminal end rearward of said leading edge, said recess being larger in size above said terminal end of said slot than is said terminal end of said slot; and
a second engagement means, detachably engageable with said first engagement means, comprising a hitch member having an enlarged head portion connected by a narrower shank portion to a means for raising and lowering said head of said hitch member above and substantially level with or below said stage surface, said head portion being larger in size than said terminal end of said slot and said shank portion being narrower than said terminal end of said slot, wherein said hitch member can be moved through apertures in said stage surface between a projecting position raised above said stage surface and a retracted position at or below the stage surface, and when said head portion of said hitch member is raised above said stage surface, said first engagement means can be detachably engaged with said projecting hitch member, thereby allowing a person wearing the shoes to lean forwardly with his or her normal center of gravity beyond a front region of said shoes, and maintain said forward lean.
The patent expired on Dec 20, 2005 for failure to pay maintenance fees.
The Jackson patent was cited by Northrop Grumman Corporation in US patent 5498161 .
Separately from topix.com on trade secrets, a lawsuit by Nike.
The lawsuit alleges former designers Denis Dekovic , Marc Dolce and Mark Miner "conspired" to steal trade secrets, strategic plans and product designs and convinced Adidas to hire them to build a facsimile of Nike's famed innovation lab, known as the Kitchen
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 8:46 AM
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