Add yet another "SEC noncooperation" case to the list that seems to grow weekly these days. The SEC announced today that it had filed a settled enforcement action charging Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. with improperly reporting its interactive program guide licensing and advertising revenues in its financial statements from 1999 through 2002. Gemstar agreed to paying a $10 million civil penalty, which will be distributed to shareholders pursuant to the Fair Funds provision in Section 308 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The SEC stated in its press release that in assessing the penalty amount, it considered both Gemstar's "initial failure to cooperate in the Commission's investigation or undertake remedial actions," as well as the company's "significant cooperation and remediation following a change in senior management and restructuring of its corporate governance."

According to the SEC, Gemstar's "initial failure to cooperate" included the following:

--In April 2002, immediately after Gemstar filed its 2001 Form 10-K, the Commission contacted Gemstar and commenced an investigation. For nearly the next eight months, while Gemstar's former CEO and other senior officers remained in place, the company did not conduct a thorough or comprehensive internal investigation and did not take other appropriate remedial action, even when presented by the Commission with specific evidence of fraudulent conduct.

--As a result of its inadequate investigation, in August 2002 Gemstar issued a restatement reversing only approximately $20 million in revenue. Gemstar consequently continued to report overstated revenues to the investing public even after the Commission's investigation began.