Judge: Jolie didn't plagiarize 'Blood and Honey'

[April 01, 2013]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge says actress Angelina Jolie didn't steal the story for her movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" from a Croatian author.

City News Service reports Friday's tentative ruling in Los Angeles will throw out the suit accusing Jolie of copyright infringement.

In 2011, author James Braddock sued Jolie and the film company that made the film, saying it was partly based on his book "The Soul Shattering."

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee wrote in a tentative ruling that the plots, characters and themes in the two works were not "substantially" similar, though both centered on war romances.

Jolie wrote, directed and co-produced the film.

Braddock has been ordered to tell the court why his complaint should not be dismissed with prejudice.

[Associated Press]

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