Tobacco firms to explore patent settlement

(Reuters) Star Scientific Inc, a maker of smokeless and dissolvable tobacco products, said a federal court referred its patent infringement case with a unit of Reynolds American Inc to a magistrate judge for possible settlement.
The news sent Star Scientific's shares up as much as 39 percent in afternoon trade on the Nasdaq.
The lawsuit concerns two of Star Scientific's patents on tobacco-leaf curing methods that claim to prevent the formation of cancer-causing chemicals during the process. Continued