diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7b8778bc8c7..7d941cf2a42 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ We refer to [GitHub issues](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues) by using `#
 - Fixed NullPointerException when trying to set a special field or mark an entry through the menu without having an open database
 - Fixed [#1257](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/1324): Preferences for the BibTeX key generator set in a version prior to 3.2 are now migrated automatically to the new version
 - Fixed [#1716](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/1716): `@`-Symbols stored in BibTeX fields no longer break the database
+- Fixed [#1499](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/1499): {} braces are now treated correctly in in author/editor
+- Fixed [#1531](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/1531): `\relax` can be used for abbreviation of author names
+ 
 
 ### Removed
 - It is not longer possible to choose to convert HTML sub- and superscripts to equations
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/gui/maintable/MainTableColumn.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/gui/maintable/MainTableColumn.java
index bdadc4ee509..42f2c637b07 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/gui/maintable/MainTableColumn.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/gui/maintable/MainTableColumn.java
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public String getDisplayName() {
      *
      * @return true if the bibtex fields contains author or editor
      */
-    public boolean isNameColumn() {
+    private boolean isNameColumn() {
         for (String field : bibtexFields) {
             if (InternalBibtexFields.getFieldExtras(field).contains(FieldProperties.PERSON_NAMES)) {
                 return true;
@@ -129,13 +129,14 @@ public Object getColumnValue(BibEntry entry) {
             }
         }
 
-        if (content != null) {
-            content = toUnicode.format(content);
+        if (isNameColumn()) {
+            content = MainTableNameFormatter.formatName(content);
         }
 
-        if (isNameColumn()) {
-            return MainTableNameFormatter.formatName(content);
+        if (content != null) {
+            content = toUnicode.format(content).trim();
         }
+
         return content;
 
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/sf/jabref/model/entry/AuthorListTest.java b/src/test/java/net/sf/jabref/model/entry/AuthorListTest.java
index 67fb4020593..d91816f6462 100644
--- a/src/test/java/net/sf/jabref/model/entry/AuthorListTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/sf/jabref/model/entry/AuthorListTest.java
@@ -375,6 +375,28 @@ public void testGetAuthor() {
         Assert.assertEquals("von Neumann", author.getLastOnly());
         Assert.assertEquals("Neumann, Jr, J.", author.getNameForAlphabetization());
         Assert.assertEquals("von", author.getVon());
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testCompanyAuthor() {
+        Author author = AuthorList.parse("{JabRef Developers}").getAuthor(0);
+        Author expected = new Author(null, null, null, "JabRef Developers", null);
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, author);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testCompanyAuthorWithLowerCaseWord() {
+        Author author = AuthorList.parse("{JabRef Developers on Fire}").getAuthor(0);
+        Author expected = new Author(null, null, null, "JabRef Developers on Fire", null);
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, author);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAbbreviationWithRelax() {
+        Author author = AuthorList.parse("{\\relax Ch}ristoph Cholera").getAuthor(0);
+        Author expected = new Author("{\\relax Ch}ristoph", "{\\relax Ch}.", null, "Cholera", null);
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, author);
     }
 
     @Test