In a Notice published in the Federal Register (73 Fed. Reg. 67750) on Monday, November 17, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced a new rule that would institute an annual fee for all registered practitioners. The fee will be required for practitioners to maintain active status to practice before the Office. As other commentators have mentioned, and as the Notice informs, the rule change is based on a prior Notice published on December 12, 2003 which discussed proposed amendments to 37 C.F.R. § 11 that include an annual practitioner fee (see, e.g., Patently-O, "Patent Practice: Annual Practitioner Maintenance Fee"). The Office rationalizes the motivation for the rule change based on an interest in "maintaining a roster of registered practitioners, including affording practitioners due process, protecting the public, preserving the integrity of the Office, and maintaining high professional standards" as well as protecting the general public interest in having an up-to-date roster of registered patent attorneys and agents. The fee is currently scheduled to be $118 per year, and as Hal Wegner, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP and professor at George Washington University Law School, noted in a Monday newsletter to his e-mail subscribers "since the final rules are effective in the new fiscal year (in December) the payment is due September 30, 2009."
The rules describe the protocol the Office plans to implement regarding notifying registered practitioners when the fee is due, as well as consequences for non-payment (administrative suspension) and how practitioners who are suspended, if suspended in good faith, can be placed back on active status. These fees, according to the Notice, are designed to recover the Office's estimated annual cost of maintaining the active practitioner roster, which includes additions and removals from the roster, updating contact information, conducting investigations regarding allegations of practitioner misconduct, and conducting disciplinary proceedings against practitioners.
Perhaps what is most disturbing about this Notice is that it comes on the heels of the USPTO's recent announcement that the recent rule changes to Markush claims and IDS practice will not go into effect under the current administration (see "PTO Announces No IDS or Markush Rules During Bush Administration"). Hopefully, this action will prove to be the single exception to the current Administration's stated intention of not making any further changes to the patent rules and regulations.
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