Fatal Error - Can's use function return value in write context

Getting this error with the dev version:

Fatal error: Can't use function return value in write context in /sites/all/modules/taxonomy_menu/taxonomy_menu.module on line 574

Here is the line with the problem:

$link['options']['attributes']['title'] =
!empty(trim($item['description'])) ?
check_plain(strip_tags($item['description'])) :
check_plain(strip_tags($item['name']));

I got it to work with this change which may not be the best, but works:

$link['options']['attributes']['title'] =
strlen(trim($item['description']))>0 ?
check_plain(strip_tags($item['description'])) :
check_plain(strip_tags($item['name']));