“A patent practitioner paying dues electronically and having complied with the voluntary CLE requirement would pay annual dues of $240 per year”

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2018/08/08/uspto-proposes-cle-bar-dues-patent-practitioners/id=100126/

Yikes. As though it isn’t expensive enough already to do this job. Particularly for sole practitioner patent attorneys. Almost everyone in this job has to manage to afford Malpractice Insurance, Rent, District dues, state bar dues, incorporation, privilege tax, state and county and national and subject matter bar associations and industry groups, CLE requirements, westlaw / lexis, web hosting and domain, file backup, paper, printer, computer, office supplies, billing services, accounting, all before marketing and advertising. The privilege tax is the only one that’s under $100, if I recall correctly. Why not add another few hundred? Apparently, if a practitioner does not comply with the CLE (another few hundred, probably), and files in paper, the dues would go past $400! I don’t understand. There’s apparently 30k practitioners. $3e5 practitioners x 3e2 est median take=9e7 revenue=$9 million. That’s all? Seems like a token amount to the federal government but a significant imposition on the practitioners.