Is Marty McFly prior art?

Is this prior art?


Marty went to the future (namely, 2015). Nike must have realized 2015 was coming up, so they got around to actually inventing this technology, and they want to protect it. On May 2, 2008, Nike filed a patent application for an "Automatic Lacing System."  And the design looks familiar.

Examination of this application has not yet begun.  The first proposed claim reads:

An automatic lacing system for an article of footwear, comprising:

a sole including a cavity;

a motor disposed in the cavity; the motor including a driveshaft; the driveshaft including at least one gear;

at least one belt engaged with the at least one gear at an intermediate portion of the belt;

a yoke member connected to the at least one belt at an attachment portion of the at least one belt;

a plurality of straps attached to the yoke member, the plurality of straps being configured to adjust an upper of the article of footwear; and

wherein the straps can be automatically moved between a closed position and a loosened position by activating the motor. 

Nike has submitted a couple of Information Disclosure Statements to provide background information to the Examiner.  I did not see Back to the Future II as a listed reference.  But that's probably ok, because the video above is likely not enabling.  But I'm glad the self-tying shoe is finally here.  And I'm ready for my flying car.

I hope I'm never in a situation where I need to use this invention

Anticipate This!™ has an excellent and entertaining string of posts on interesting patents called "They Invented What." The "Fresh Air Breathing Device and Method" (U.S. Patent 4,320,756)sounds harmless enough. As you can see from the picture, it is a method of breathing fresh air out of your toilet to avoid breathing toxic fumes while trapped in a bathroom. The idea seems good -- while you wait for the firepeople to rescue you, you don't suffocate or inhale toxic smoke. But still, I hope to never have to breathe out of the toilet.