George Clooney and producing partner Steven Soderbergh have decided to close down their Section Eight production company, which they founded six years ago.

A French court dismissed a suit against George Clooney and Warner Bros. filed by a French screenwriter who alleged that the movie Syriana was largely plagiarised from her script, court officials said today.

The film-makers behind George Clooney's Oscar-winning movie Syriana denied the script plagiarised work by screenwriter Stephanie Vergniault in a Paris court yesterday.