By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
Fans of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal video will recall how, in the middle of performing the 1988 song, the pop star and his dancers leaned forward dramatically.
Turns out Jackson didn't just invent the move — he eventually patented it.
To do what became a signature move in live performances without the help of harnesses and wires, Jackson created a shoe "system" called "Method and Means for Creating Anti-Gravity Illusion."
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"Most people think of Michael Jackson's intellectual property in terms of his songs and the Beatles catalogue. They usually don't know about his other endeavors," says lawyer Milord Keshishian of Milord & Associates in Los Angeles. "A lot of entertainers with business savvy try to protect what they invent."
Granted in 1993 to Jackson and two partners by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, patent No. 5,255,452 covers 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."
A heel slot in the shoes gets hitched to retractable pegs in a stage floor. Wearing the shoes, Jackson (or anyone) could seem to lean past his center of gravity without toppling. The effect would be most striking in live performances, during which harnesses and wires would be too cumbersome or impossible to disguise.
"His untimely death has subjected Michael Jackson's personal choices to debate, but his dedication to creating and protecting his art is unquestionable," Keshishian says. Aside from Jackson's involvement, the patent isn't spectacularly unusual for the entertainment industry, he adds. Special-effects creators often seek to patent effects. "Some dance moves are copyrightable as well," he says.
"I've used (Jackson's) patent for years in classes to teach students what they can patent," says lawyer Gene Quinn of IPWatchdog.com. Rather than licensing the shoes, Jackson probably sought the patent to keep the effect exclusive, Quinn says. "Just getting a patent may be enough to create marketing buzz in some cases, and he may have achieved that as well."
Despite his fame and fortune, Jackson claimed "small entity status" in his patent application, which as a small-business employer entitled him to pay one-half the regular fees.
But imitators can dance in copies of the shoes without fear. The patent ended early, on Oct. 26, 2005, after failure to pay a final maintenance fee to the federal government.