As it turns out, there are as many origin stories for barbecue as there are spellings of the word on neon signs. These explanations range from a linguistic attempt to connect barbecue to boucan (also French) to a tall tale tracing barbecue to a Texas rancher who happened to brand the initials B.Q. on his livestock.
Patent protection usually ends when the patent expires. Here are the expiration dates: For all utility patents filed before June 8, 1995, the patent term is 20 years from date of filing, or 17 years from date of issuance, whichever period is longer.
If any claim of a pending patent application is obvious in light of at least one claim of the applicant's issued patents, the applicant may be required by the USPTO to disclaim a part of the term of the pending application. For example, an applicant's patent A expires on December 24, 2000.