BRIEFCASE MIRAMAX ENTERING ANIMATION MARKET.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Reports

Miramax Films will co-finance and distribute computer-animated family films starting with ``Opus,'' adapted from the popular ``Bloom County'' comic strip, the company said Thursday.

Miramax will release some of the films under its Dimension banner and produce them in conjunction with Wild Brain Inc., a San Francisco-based animated film company perhaps best known for creating the nasty toe fungus in commercials for the prescription drug Lamisil.

The multiyear deal also gives Miramax and Dimension the opportunity to distribute direct-to-video productions fully financed by Wild Brain, the companies said.

The announcement comes as The Walt Disney Co., which owns Miramax, is gearing up its own computer-animated film production to replace Pixar's films. Disney's deal with Pixar expires after the delivery of next year's film ``Cars.''

Disney will release its first computer-animated film, ``Chicken Little,'' next year.

RIAA files another 762 piracy claims

The music industry filed copyright infringement lawsuits Thursday against 762 computer users, including defendants at 26 universities around the country.

The lawsuits were the latest filed by recording companies against suspected online music file-swappers.

The new filings bring the total number of people sued to more than 4,000 since the Recording Industry Association of America began its legal campaign against individual computer users a year ago.

As in the previous complaints, the latest lawsuits were brought against unnamed ``John Doe'' defendants, identified only by their computer Internet protocol addresses.

Amgen says E.U. approved Enbrel

THOUSAND OAKS - Amgen Inc. announced Thursday that its drug Enbrel won approval from European Union regulators to treat adult severe plaque psoriasis.

According to the biotech company, 5.1 million Europeans suffer from the chronic skin condition. Regulators gave it the nod after three studies of more than 1,300 adults found rapid and significant response to treatment.

Toyota shipments of Prius to double

DETROIT - Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's top automaker, said Thursday it will double the allocation of Prius hybrid cars for the U.S. market in 2005, part of a companywide goal to sell 300,000 gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles worldwide by the end of next year.

Toyota said the announcement coincides with the sale of its 100,000th Prius in the United States, where they went on sale in the summer of 2000.

Globally, Toyota has sold more than a quarter-million hybrid vehicles since the introduction of the Prius - the world's first commercially mass- produced hybrid car - in December 1997.

Fannie Mae probe joined by Justice

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation into mortgage giant Fannie Mae, which has been accused of earnings manipulation and ordered to revamp its accounting, it was learned Thursday.

An accounting crisis emerged last week at the government-sponsored company, which finances and guarantees the most home mortgages in the country.

A federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae and its sibling company, Freddie Mac, cited serious accounting problems after eight months of investigating.

Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a preliminary inquiry.