I used to work for a hardware company.
A guy sent us his new patent for a hasp with a hook built in.
Odd think is that we were already selling it; in fact it was in our 1898
catalog.
A year later I went to Mexico and found it on the door of a house built
in 1575.
Yet the US Patent Office gave him a patent.
Go figure.

If the original actually had a Patent, it may have run out. Patents
running out is the real "bottom line" reason that R12 is no longer used as
a refrigerant in the US.

R12 (Dichlorodifluoromethane) was on the list of chemicals banned by a
treaty in 1999. It had nothing to do with patents.

Dave



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