Yes, this is true, but the fact remains that r-12 is being phased out
and will someday no longer be avail in The States.  Only recycled is now
and it requires a special licence to be purchased.  It is now very
expensive.

FHerzig@swri.edu wrote:

> Sorry folks, but the patent on Freon ran out long ago, sometime
> before 1974. At NASA-Langley we had a wind tunnel that flowed
> Freon rather than air and when the patent ran out, the cost to
> supply the wind tunnel dropped in half because of competition.
> Patents are only for 17 years (generally, some specific situations
> can modify it slightly) and Freon has been around a long time.
>
> Frank Herzig
> '85 Vanagon, with AC but took the compressor belt off long ago.