Brian ^ from talking to jim c. About it he says you don't lose any stregth by shaving some material. It slims it down, takes away some metal and bulk. Looks good!
Also, I think that the downtube curve is a bit more mellow than ares. Either way I don't think it is a ripoff of ares, flatlanders realize we need a bit more room under downtube, what is logical answer? Bend it!
GT did it, fly did it, ares did it, st martin did it, colony did it, dragonfly did it, hoffman did it, khe did it and now flatware... It is just logical!
It happens across the board with BMX. One company designs something that works and the industry follows.
Add different geometry etc and it tweeks it a bit, but all based on same idea. See macneil seatposts/seats or integrated seatclamps or 1 1/8 headsets. If it works and people like it stick with it.