New legislation, called the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, was passed by the United States Congress on December 16, 2010 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 17, 2010, which affects federal estate taxes.

A summary of the new law is as follows:

• As a temporary measure, for calendar years 2011 and 2012 the Federal Estate Tax Exemption amount is 5 million dollars for persons dying during those years.

• The highest estate tax bracket will be 35%.

• Estate taxes remain a lien on real property for 10 years from the date of death.

• A surviving spouse can continue to convey free of the lien of estate taxes to a purchaser for value.

• As a temporary measure, the step-up in income tax basis has been continued for persons dying in 2011 and 2012 will go to the heirs, and give them a cost basis that is equal to the fair market value at the time of death.

• Raises the lifetime gift tax exemption to 5 million dollars for gifts made after January 1, 2011.

• As a temporary measure, the minimum gift tax rate during 2011 and 2012 is 35%.

If you have any questions about how the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 impacts your finances, you should speak with your financial planner or tax advisor.

Every few weeks, I get called by the media for an interview regarding a current news story.   On this particular day, I got a call from Catherine Holahan, a reporter with BusinessWeek.  Back in  2007, Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla created Scrabulous, the online Scrabble knockoff that became a smash on Facebook.  When Hasbro, which owns the North American rights to Scrabble, filed suit for intellectual property infringement, the brothers removed the game from Facebook after the social network received a takedown notice from Hasbro’s lawyers alleging that Scrabulous violated its copyright and, therefore, Facebook’s terms of service. The brothers then reinvented their game as Wordscraper.  But a board game is not only protected under trademark laws for its brand name of the game, but is also protected under copyright law with respect  to the expression of the game.

Would changing the name from Scrabulous to Wordscraper be enough to satisfy Hasbro? The change of the name could help them on the trademark side. The new name would have to be so that it is not confusingly similar to “Scrabble.”  The question would be, under copyright law, is the expression of the new game so substantially similar that it would still constitute copyright infringement?  I explained to the reporter that ideas are as free as the wind. Courts don’t enforce the protection of an idea, they will however, enforce the way the idea is carried out or expressed. For example, the creators of Superman can’t protect the idea of a super strong person who saves people from criminals. They can, however, enforce their rights if someone created a hero who wears a blue suit with a red cape and flies around saving people when not working at a major metropolitan newspaper. Generally, courts are looking at whether a plaintiff can prove substantial similarity and access to the copyrighted expression.  Read the full article, Scrabulous Now Wordscraper, Hasbro Still Suing, by Catherine Holahan, BusinessWeek.

**This post is for informational purposes only, For legal advice contact an internet attorney**