No? It’s an ISO standard that’s separate from H.265. Maybe you’re thinking of HEVC, which is like that. (Alternatively I’m wrong, which is totally possible)
HEIC is defined as HEVC in a HEIF container. So yes, it's patent encumbered.
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_Format#HEIC:_HEVC_in_HEIF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_For...