Department of Labor proposed regulations would allow certain employers (including employer groups or associations) and business owners with no employees to share a single 401(k) plan. This arrangement would transfer administrative and compliance responsibility to the sponsor of the retirement plan under a multiple employer plan, or “MEP.”

Public information can’t be a trade secret because it’s, well, public. But a combination of public information arranged or organized in a unique, economically advantageous way, can be a trade secret. That’s what Diego DeAmezaga learned to his chagrin. Diego worked for AirFacts, Inc. a software company that licenses auditing software for air fare comparisons. Diego worked painstakingly and expertly to create flow charts that AirFacts used in its software development. When Diego left AirFacts, he attached the flow charts to his resume. AirFacts brought suit against Diego for trade secret misappropriation under the Maryland Uniform Trade Secrets Act (MUTSA). The Maryland District Court dismissed the complaint. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal. The Court held that the flow charts had independent economic value separate from the public information they contained. AirFacts had taken reasonable measures to keep the flow charts secret by requiring employees to sign confidentiality agreements and giving only a few employees access to certain accounts. So the public information in the flow charts were trade secrets.

In the olden days, you’d buy an album and when you grew tired of it you’d sell the album to a used record store. That’s because you owned the physical record and once you bought it, that record was yours to do with as you please. This is called the “First Sale Doctrine”. Nowadays most people download their tunes. They still buy or rent it but now they don’t have a physical embodiment of the music. Relying on the First Sale Doctrine, ReDigi Inc. had offered a service whereby you could upload your digital music that you legally purchased from iTunes and resell it. Capitol Records LLC had a problem with that. Capitol Records sued ReDigi for copyright infringement arguing that the First Sale Doctrine doesn’t apply to digital files. The act of uploading the files to ReDigi’s server was creating a copy without permission. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment in Capitol Records’ favor. ReDigi also argued that its use was Fair Use. The court held against ReDigi on that as well because ReDigi was commercially motivated, made no changes to the copyrighted works, used the entire works, and resold the digital music files in the same market as the copyright owners.

Mistakes happen. If a mistake occurs in the property tax process, it could be costly if not corrected. Fortunately, some errors are fixable -- even those that may have occurred in a previous year or years -- thanks to what is known as a Certificate of Error, or in property tax parlance, a C of E. When an assessment error is discovered, taxpayers can seek relief by filing a C of E with local assessing officials. However, be advised that the granting of a C of E by an assessing authority is discretionary, not mandatory.

Using your name as a trademark is doable. Even if someone else has the same name. %CUT% A surname is considered a descriptive trademark because it references a person or company who’s providing the goods and services. Generally, descriptive marks can’t be registered as trademarks. But, the recent case between The Saint Louis Brewery (“SLB”) and Phyllis Schlafly and Bruce Schlafly (the “Schlaflys”) demonstrated how to get a trademark in a surname. The Schlaflys are family members of the late Phyllis Schlafly who was a writer and political activist best known for her opposition to the women's movement and especially the Equal Rights Amendment. Bruce Schlafly is a doctor and he uses his name in his medical practice. SLB marketed its beer using a logo design that incorporated the name of one of the founders, Thomas Schlafly, for about 30 years. SLB sold more than 75,000,000 units of beer, not counting restaurant sales. SLB applied to register the word mark “Schlafly” saying that the surname has acquired distinctiveness through secondary meaning (connecting the name to the goods) and was no longer merely descriptive. The Schlaflys opposed the registration. The Schlaflys argued that being associated with beer was going to have a negative effect on the name. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) denied the opposition. The Schlaflys appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) arguing that the use of the name violated the First Amendment and their Due Process Rights. The Schlaflys argued that the name “Schlafly” is recognized primarily as Phyllis Schlafly’s surname, and that the CAFC should adopt a new test called the “change in significance” test, “whereby a surname cannot be registered as a trademark without showing a change in significance to the public from a surname to an identifying mark for specified goods.” The CAFC rejected the Opposers’ arguments and affirmed the TTAB’s decision.