Express Oil Change used the service mark “Tire Engineers” for its tire sales, repair and maintenance services. The Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers & Surveyors had a problem with that. According to the Board, no one can use the word “engineer” unless they are actually engineers and have registered for a license to practice engineering in Mississippi.

In the first three townships having a significant commercial and/or industrial tax base, (Norwood Park, Evanston and Elk Grove, the new assessor has been increasing market values by as much 50 to 300%. He claims that properties in the northern suburbs have been grossly underassessed for years, hence a 1-year catch-up was justified. Of course, no consideration was given to the jobs that will be lost as tenants and companies relocate, nor to the investors who will no longer invest in Cook County, nor to the companies that will no longer consider locating in Cook County, nor to the existing companies that will jettison their expansion plans. The same is true for owners of residential income properties that have also experienced significant increases. Who will be able to afford the higher rents that landlords will try to pass on to them? As to the homeowners, many of whom saw only minor increases, what will become of their property values if local jobs disappear and they cannot sell their houses? To date, the assessor has stubbornly refused to grant relief on a vast majority of commercial and industrial appeals, as his property valuations are apparently perfect.

VidAngel Inc. removed nudity and violence from films and then sold the ‘redacted’ versions. Disney Enterprises, Inc. its subsidiary Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. sued VidAngel for copyright infringement.

In the never ending battle between the qualifying factors for receiving a charitable property tax exemption as first enunciated in the Korzen case, Methodist Old Peoples Home v. Bernard Korzen, County Treasurer, et al, 233 N.E, 2d, 537, 39 Ill.2d 149 (1968), the Illinois Supreme Court initially set forth the following criteria for successfully obtaining a property tax exemption.

Using someone’s trademarks when criticizing their products or services can be tricky. But if you do it the right way, it could be considered nominative fair use.

The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program requires employers with at least 25 Illinois employees to set up a state-sponsored IRA based retirement program if they do not already have a retirement plan. Although the program is funded solely by payroll contributions from employees, subject employers must go through an online registration and enrollment process, forward payroll contributions to the program custodian and provide program information to employees.

The famous movie producer, Sam Goldwyn, is credited with saying that “An oral contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”. The son of Bob Ross, the Joy of Painting icon, found out that there’s an exception to this rule.

Swarmfly Inc. and CloudFlare Inc. courted each for a potential acquisition and licensing relationship related to video streaming service technologies. Each party signed non-disclosure agreements. Sadly, the courtship didn’t lead to a marriage proposal and each party went their separate ways. Until, Swarmfly sued CloudFlare for trade secret misappropriation.