BRIEFCASE INTEL, BROADCOM FIX PATENT DISPUTE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Reports

SAN JOSE - Semiconductor rivals Intel Corp. and Broadcom Inc. announced Friday that they have settled their long-running patent disputes and agreed to license various technologies from each other. The companies had filed several lawsuits and counterclaims related to semiconductors and packaging dating from 2000 in federal courts and the International Trade Commission. Under the deal, all the claims and counterclaims will be dismissed.

Irvine-based Broadcom, a maker of communications chips, will pay Intel a total of $60 million spread over the third and fourth quarters of 2003. Broadcom said it would take a one-time charge in the quarter ended June 30.

Both sides said they were satisfied with the agreement.

FDA order signals tougher scrutiny

WASHINGTON - The government is ordering the maker of a popular anti-cholesterol drug to air corrections after overstating Pravachol's benefits in ads to consumers and doctors - an unusually tough move that signals more scrutiny of drug companies' truthfulness about their products.

The Food and Drug Administration's new commissioner highlighted the order to Pravachol maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in a speech Friday designed to put the industry on notice that the agency is getting tougher with lawbreakers.

Tobacco company gets subpoenaed

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. said Friday that it has received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of an investigation of possible violations of securities laws.

``This has nothing to do with any financial improprieties,'' RJR spokesman Seth Moskowitz said. ``They are not questioning any accounting or financial issues.''

In its quarterly report filed with the SEC, the nation's second-largest cigarette maker said the July 3 subpoena and discussions with the SEC explore whether specific amounts of some of the company's expenses should be quantified separately rather than aggregated with other expense items.

SEC ends review of Tyco finances

NEW YORK - The Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded a review of financial reports filed by Tyco International Ltd. that restated nearly six years of earnings, but investigators are still examining its accounting practices, the conglomerate said Friday.

The SEC's corporation finance division notified the company Thursday that it had completed a study of last year's annual report and quarterly statements for the periods ending Dec. 31 and March 31, Tyco said. The reports restated financial results dating to 1998.

An investigation by the SEC's enforcement division is continuing, Tyco said. The SEC declined comment Friday, as is its practice in ongoing investigations.