25th July.
As for that metal connector, Amare's is pretty different than the A51 one.
The idea of being able to patent a piece of metal with some holes in it, is as vague as trying to patent cars. No make or model, just cars in general.
Maybe they can patent theirs exactly how they have it or A51 can patent it the exact way they have it. But patenting a piece of metal with holes can not be done. Patents need to be pretty specific.
I don't think anyone copied anyone either. They had an idea to connect some units together, and I did as well. I've been talking about it for more than 2 years now. The 1st idea I had would have been not at all user friendly, that's why I went with a more simpler way to connect them. If anyone copied anyone, they'd look a lot more like the same.
Look at Homedepot, they have tons of similar brackets. That's how I got my idea, I was walking up and down the isles looking at stuff.
http://www.homedepot.com/b/N-5yc1v/Ntk-All/Ntt-metal+bracket?NCNI-5