Viacom loses punitive damages bid against Google

NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAb.N) cannot amend its complaint against Google Inc (GOOG.O) in its $1 billion copyright lawsuit to add a claim for punitive damages, a U.S. judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in the Southern District of New York denied Viacom's request, saying common law punitive damages cannot be recovered under the Copyright Act, according to a ruling dated Friday but made public this week.

Google had opposed Viacom's motion, saying it should be denied as futile, according to the ruling.

A Viacom representative said the company had no comment.

Viacom sued Google a year ago for copyright infringement on its popular YouTube online video sharing service. (Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)