Blynn Shideler

Moatz, Harry

From: Blynn@...
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 3:13 PM
To: ethicsrules comments
Subject: Active Practitioner Registration Fee Proposal

In support of the new registered patent attorney/agent fee the patent office suggests that by "adopting these fees to be paid by registered practitioners, the costs of these activities are not passed onto applicants." Nothing could be further from the truth. Unless there is a pro-bono patent firm out there, all practitioners pass the cost of doing business onto the applicants.

The PTO is merely adding another layer of administration to the process. There is clearly going to be an additional cost associated with collecting of this new fee. This new added cost will be passed, by us practitioners, onto to the applicants. The applicants are not served by adding costs to the system.

Blynn Shideler
The BLK Law Group
12/22/03