I get what you are trying to say here, basically “same, difference”. You have to pay the fee no matter what the nursery is calling it.
I just think it’s a shady practice, because while you are willing to pay the fee no matter what it’s called, there is a stark difference between a contractual fee that the nursery is willing to pay and a patent fee. You don’t have a contract with the original breeder and the plant material is not under patent. If you think it is patent protected you might not propagate it just because of the misinformation the nursery gave you.
In my opinion, it would be better for the nursery to just charge the bottom line price without adding in the “patent fee” or even a contractual fee for that matter. If the shrub needs to cost $29.99 + $4.00 “patent fee” (which of course there is no legal patent) for it to be feasible for the nursery to carry it, they should just price it at $33.99 and be done with it.