Valley Justice Google's intention to drive advertising profits through the acquisition of this year's hottest web property may actually be the move that ends up killing the golden GooTube.

YouTube recently answered a copyright infringement complaint brought against it in a federal court in California and presented an argument that, while not exactly novel, may just get it off the hook.

For the moment, it looks more likely than not that YouTube will escape liability under the Supreme Court's recent Grokster decision. The only problem is advertising. If Google targets ads too aggressively, it risks pushing YouTube out of the safe harbor that it probably enjoys at the moment. This would put the service on the hook for copyright infringement, and could justify Mark Cuban's condemnation of the YouTube purchase as "moronic." On the other hand, if Google proceeds cautiously and works within the sometimes amorphous confines of copyright law, it could make Cuban's statements look more like sour grapes than prescient prognostication.