BRIEFCASE.

Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Cisco, Apple settle over 'iPhone' name

Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Inc. said Wednesday they have settled the trademark-infringement lawsuit that threatened to derail Apple's use of the "iPhone" name for its much-hyped new iPod-cellular phone gadget.

The companies said Apple will be allowed to use the name for its sleek new multimedia device in exchange for exploring wide-ranging "interoperability" between the companies' products in the areas of security, consumer and business communications.

No other details of the agreement were released, and representatives from both companies declined to comment beyond their short joint statement. The companies both said they would dismiss any pending legal actions regarding the trademark.

The showdown between the Silicon Valley tech heavyweights erupted last month when Cisco sued Apple in San Francisco federal court claiming that Apple's use of the iPhone name constituted a "willful and malicious" violation of a trademark that Cisco has owned since 2000.

The lawsuit was filed a day after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled his own company's iPhone, a multimedia device that operates over the cellular network instead of the Internet.

Fed policymakers see less threat in housing

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve policymakers saw a lessening of economic threats from the housing slump but continued to worry about inflation as they decided last month to leave existing interest rates intact.

According to minutes of their deliberations released Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues believed that while the slowdown in housing continued to pose a threat to the overall economy, those risks had "diminished somewhat."

The central bank still believed the greatest threat to the economy would occur if policymakers did not succeed in reducing inflation pressures.

The Fed at the January meeting left the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, unchanged at 5.25 percent.

T.J. Maxx, Marshalls security gap widens

BOSTON -- A computer security breach by a hacker who stole TJX Cos. customer data was broader than initially feared, and started 10 months earlier than first thought, the company said Wednesday.

But the parent of discount retail chains including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls also reported 5 percent sales growth during its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended just 10 days after the breach was disclosed Jan. 17.

TJX initially believed the intrusion began in May 2006 and ran into last month. On Wednesday, the company said its ongoing investigation revealed the breach started nearly a year earlier, in July 2005.

Also, TJX said Wednesday that credit and debit card data had been accessed involving transactions at U.S. and Puerto Rican stores from January 2003 through June 2004, and credit card-only transactions at Canadian stores during that period.