Richardson v. Townsquare Media, Inc.

── Richardson v. Townsquare Media, Inc. ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Date: April 23, 2026 Category: General 25-291 Richardson v. Townsquare Media, Inc. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT August Term, 2025 (Argued: December 10, 2025 Decided: April 23, 2026) Docket No. 25-291-cv DELRAY RICHARDSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, — v. — TOWNSQUARE MEDIA, INC., Defendant-Appellee. B e f o r e: LYNCH, NARDINI, and MENASHI, Circuit Judges. __________________ Plaintiff Delray Richardson appeals a judgment dismissing his copyright infringement claims on the pleadings. Richardson sued Townsquare Media, Inc. (“Townsquare”) after it reproduced videos he created on a hip-hop news website it operates. First, Townsquare reproduced a video Richardson had recorded of basketball legend Michael Jordan breaking up a fight (the “Jordan Video”) in an article that speculated about the identity of an individual who may have been involved in the incident. Second, Townsquare, in two separate articles, embedded from YouTube an interview Richardson had conducted with the rapper Melle Mel in which Melle Mel criticized rapper Eminem (the “Melle Mel Video”). And in each of those three articles, Townsquare included a screenshot from the relevant video in the article’s headline. The district court (Alvin K. Hellerstein, J.) granted Townsquare judgment on the pleadings. We disagree in part and agree in part. First, the district court incorrectly determined, at the pleading stage, that Townsquare’s use of the Jordan Video was fair. Because Townsquare republished the entire Jordan Video, it potentially provided consumers with a substitute work that obviated the need to seek out (and pay for) the video from Richardson. Second, the district court erroneously applied the de minimis doctrine to Townsquare’s use of the screenshots from the Jordan and Melle Mel Videos. The doctrine does not apply in cases like this where the secondary use is clearly copied from the original work and is wholly recognizable. But, third, the district court correctly determined that Richardson’s claim as to the Melle Mel Video was foreclosed by the license granted by YouTube’s Terms of Service. That license unambiguously covers Townsquare’s use. Accordingly, we VACATE the district court’s judgment as to Townsquare’s use of the Jordan Video and the screenshots from both videos, AFFIRM the district court’s judgment as to Townsquare’s use of the Melle Mel Video, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. __________________ CRAIG B. SANDERS, Sanders Law Group, Uniondale, NY, for Plaintiff- Appellant. ABIGAIL B. EVERDELL, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, New York, NY (Celyra I. Myers, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Washington, DC, and Rachel F. Strom, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee. 2 GERARD E. LYNCH, Circuit Judge: Over a decade ago, videographer Delray Richardson recorded a seemingly chance encounter: basketball legend Michael Jordan breaking up a fight. That video (the “Jordan Video”) received renewed interest in 2023 when a social media account republished it in a post claiming that the altercation involved a prominent social media personality. Townsquare Media, Inc. (“Townsquare”) republished that post, which also contained the video, in a short article on its hip- hop news website. That was not the only material cr