When Viacom sued Google for $1 billion over copyright infringement on YouTube last year, it seemed unlikely Viacom lawyers would ever win that much. Now it will be that much harder. Judge Louis Stanton ruled that Viacom will not be awarded "punitive damages." If Viacom wins the case, any money it gets from Google will be a sum determined only by how much the alleged copyright infringement cost Viacom. Since Viacom executives argued during the writers' strike that they weren't making any money online, they may have a tough case getting anything.

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