What, like they don't look alike now, I cannot tell a Ford, from a Chevy from a Oldsmobile from a Saturn from a Nissan from a BMW, they all look like a Honda.
If you wat to protect an idea, copy right, patent etc.
Many things cannot be easily patented because the idea is generic or infinitly variable.
Everything in the scuba industry looks alike because a lot of it comes from the same factory or slave/sweat shop and the rest is just rehashing of what has been. The wing and BP thing, those have been around since the mid 70s at least, they were just not made from stainless steel with a bend in the middle, do you really think that is sufficiently different that you could patent a bend in the middle of a plate idea that has been in use for 50 years or that stainless instead of ABS or aluminum or vinyl coated steel is really so out there it deserves a patent? It is like trying to patent the wheel, didn't Fred Flintstone invent that like 8,000 years ago or something?
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