Business news :Athletic Propulsion Labs Secures Patent

Athletic Propulsion Labs, the basketball footwear company headquartered in Los Angeles, on Jan. 8 was granted a U.S. Patent (8,347,526 ) on its Load ‘N Launch technology. The newly issued Athletic Propulsion Labs Load ‘N Launch technology patent includes 48 separate approved claims for utilizing the Load ‘N Launch technology in athletic footwear throughout the 92-page patent. The Athletic Propulsion Labs Load ‘N Launch technology is designed to instantly increase vertical leap for those who wear APL® basketball shoes and is also designed in an alternative version to increase a runner’s stride speed in the upcoming APL running shoes.

The '526 patent is another addition to the growing patent portfolio of APL. APL’s technology has been the subject of previously-granted United States Patents Nos. 8,112,095, 8,347,526, and D622,486. The applications for the '526 Patent date back to 2009. In the exhaustive process of examining this important patent, the U.S. Patent Office considered over 90 prior patents and determined that the revolutionary APL technology was not found in any of them.

On October 19, 2010, for the first time in it 64-year history, the National Basketball Association banned the Athletic Propulsion Labs basketball shoes featuring the Load ‘N Launch technology based on the league’s rule against an “undue competitive advantage”. The NBA alleged that because the APL shoes with Load ‘N Launch technology instantly increases a player’s vertical leap, that they should be banned from NBA competition. While the shoes remain banned by the NBA, Athletic Propulsion Labs basketball shoes are approved for college, high-school and recreational basketball use.

“Given the amount of engineering and design efforts that have been focused on high-performance athletic footwear in the last 30 years, the issuance of this U.S. patent on the core of the revolutionary Load ‘N Launch technology is one of the most exciting developments in the history of Athletic Propulsion Labs, if not the history of athletic footwear. The granting of this patent confirms our belief that this technology is one of the most important technological innovations to hit the athletic footwear market in decades. This technology has gone through numerous iterations designed to maximize vertical leaping in basketball and it will continue to evolve as we strive to make it even better”, said Adam Goldston, Co-Founder of Athletic Propulsion Labs.

“The ability to jump higher has long been considered the ‘holy grail’ of athletic footwear performance in basketball and up until the creation of the Athletic Propulsion Labs Load ‘N Launch technology, no major company has been able to create such a product. We utilize the patented Load ‘N Launch technology in our Concept 1, Concept 2, Concours and the upcoming Spring 2013 introduction of the Concept 3 basketball shoes. The other major challenge for athletic footwear companies has been the invention of a technology that can increase running speed. APL has developed a breakthrough design for a running shoe for both men and women that will be released in the late Spring/Early Summer. Our running shoes will utilize another version of the Load ‘N Launch technology contained in the patent which is designed to increase the speed of a runner’s gait, said Ryan Goldston, Co-Founder of Athletic Propulsion Labs.

( SportsOneSource Media  )