BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Cherokee clothes may be up for sale

VAN NUYS - Cherokee Inc. may be in talks to sell its namesake clothing brand to retailer Tesco PLC, according to one report. The British newspaper The Mail on Sunday claimed that the brand manager is talking to Tesco, which holds distribution rights in the United Kingdom, about a deal believed to be worth around $371 million.

Cherokee CFO Russell Riopelle said in an interview Monday that the company had nothing to announce.

``If we'd received an offer or had something on paper, we'd have to say something,'' he said.

ChevronTexaco now just Chevron

SAN RAMON - ChevronTexaco Corp. shortened its name to Chevron Corp. on Monday, reverting to its identity before the oil company took over one of its largest rivals 3 1/2 years ago.

The San Ramon-based company adopted a hybrid name after buying Texaco Inc. for $39 billion in October 2001. Texaco is being dropped from the corporate masthead to reduce the confusion caused by the combined name, Chevron Chairman David O'Reilly said.

The Texaco brand won't disappear. Chevron still intends to sell gasoline at Texaco stations scattered in 21 states, primarily in the South and East. The company also sells gas under the Chevron and Caltex brands.

Two plead guilty to software piracy

SAN JOSE - Two Silicon Valley business owners pleaded guilty Monday to trafficking in counterfeit software valued at more than $500,000 and promised to pay Microsoft Corp. more than $380,000 in restitution.

Perry Zheng, 51, of Cupertino and William Jin, 44, of Sunnyvale told U.S. District Court Judge Ronald M. Whyte they possessed and sold $531,961 worth of counterfeit Microsoft software. The men sold the programs through PTI Inc., a San Jose-based software distribution business.

Each faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a $2 million fine.

Whyte will sentence Zheng and Jin at a hearing scheduled for June 20.

T-bill rates mixed in Monday auction

WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction, with rates on three-month bills declining while rates on six-month bills rose to the highest level in 44 months.

The Treasury Department auctioned $15 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 2.850 percent, down from 2.870 percent last week. An additional $13 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.120 percent, up from 3.085 percent last week.

In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, was 3.33 percent last week, the same as the previous week.

Lawsuit brought against NYSE deal

NEW YORK - A New York Stock Exchange seat holder filed suit Monday to block the Big Board's proposed merger with all-electronic rival Archipelago Holdings Inc., saying the board and its adviser, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., undervalued the exchange in the deal.

William Higgins, who heads a long-standing group seeking changes at the NYSE, filed suit alleging that the exchange's leadership violated its fiduciary responsibility to its seat holders by agreeing to a subpar deal. The lawsuit names NYSE Chief Executive John Thain, the entire NYSE board, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which advised both the NYSE and Archipelago in merger talks.

Jay Eisenhofer, Higgins' attorney and a partner at the law firm Grant & Eisenhofer, said he would likely file for an injunction against the deal once a final merger date is announced.

However, he said his client was not ultimately interested in blocking the merger - just getting a better deal.