Michael Jackson's Patent:
A system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably...Judging by media-reported connections between Jackson, Bush, and Tompkins, this is indeed the famous Michael J. Jackson.
Inventors: Michael J. Jackson, Michael L. Bush, Dennis Tompkins
Assignees: Triumph International, Inc.
Primary Examiner: M. Denise Patterson
Thanks to John Shafer (ZiefBrief); ZiefBrief is the blog of USF's Dorraine Zief Law Library. The post reports, "To check out the invention in action you will need to track down a copy of Michael's video Smooth Criminal."
The link contains illustrations of the patent, a link to the "Smooth Criminal" video, and a link to a live performance video where one of the dancers has a bit of trouble extricating himself from the hitch.
Why do I know all this? Because I had an argument with my wife about whether the lean was possible without some sort of assistance. I won.
Either that or a self-reference after either paying off his first accuser or after his later criminal trial.
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