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I don't know what patent you refer to, but R-12 was invented in 1928 and in general the classic CFC refrigerants go back no later than the 1930s. They were not just out of patent but long out of patent. That the environmentalists now find something wrong with every replacement between the time of mandate and the time of adoption, so we're on a treadmill, is certainly an opportunity for the chemical companies but they're not driving the bus.
According to wiki:
"In 1978 the United States banned the use of CFCs such as Freon in aerosol cans, the beginning of a long series of regulatory actions against their use. The critical DuPont manufacturing patent for Freon ("Process for Fluorinating Halohydrocarbons", U.S. Patent #3258500) was set to expire in 1979"
citing DeSombre, Elizabeth R. (2000). Domestic Sources of International Environmental Policy: Industry, Environmentalists, and U.S. Power. MIT Press. p. 93
That's a patent for a particular manufacturing process. The chemicals were in use before that patent (as the patent's text states).
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