BTS Lawsuit: US Songwriters File Copyright Claim Over “Swim”

A copyright dispute involving BTS’s single “Swim” is generating real search interest, & this one checks out.

On July 8, 2026, three American songwriters, Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler, and Greylyn Johnson, filed a federal copyright infringement complaint in the US District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that BTS’s chart-topping track copied a demo of the same name that the trio wrote and recorded in early 2025.

According to the complaint, the songwriters finished their own “Swim” demo in March 2025 and began circulating it to industry contacts, including executives at Artist Publishing Group (APG).

The suit alleges APG staff shared the recording further, including with Derrick Milano, a songwriter signed to APG who later became a credited co-writer on BTS’s version.

The plaintiffs also say the demo reached a music-industry contact described as the head of A&R and publishing at ATG Group, who allegedly passed it along to additional songwriters and producers.

BTS reportedly worked on the “Arirang” album in Los Angeles in 2025, meeting with songwriters to select material, the complaint even points to a Netflix documentary, “BTS: The Return,” as referencing a track titled “Swim” among the material under consideration. “Arirang” was released in March 2026.

After hearing the released song, the plaintiffs hired musicologist Alexander Stewart in April 2026 to compare the two tracks.

Stewart’s preliminary report quoted extensively in the complaint concludes that the hook, harmonies, textures, and rhythmic and lyrical elements in BTS’s “Swim” were “unequivocally taken” from the plaintiffs’ demo, and that independent creation “can be ruled out.”

One detail widely misunderstood in early coverage is who is actually being sued: no individual BTS member is a defendant.

The named defendants are HYBE Co., HYBE America, HYBE Music Services, Big Hit Music, APG, Ryan Tedder, and Derrick Milano, along with several other credited co-writers reported across outlets, including James Essien, Jamison Baken (who records as Leclair), Tyler Spry, Sean Foreman, and Kirsten Spencer.

RM, who co-wrote the track, and producer Pdogg are not consistently confirmed as defendants, reporting varies here, so treat that specific detail as unsettled.

Big Hit Music has already pushed back publicly. In a statement given to a South Korean outlet and reported by the Korea Herald, the label said “‘Swim’ is an independent creation” and called the lawsuit’s claims “unilateral and unsubstantiated,” adding that it would respond “firmly through the appropriate legal process.”

Beyond the headline claims, two gaps stand out in the viral framing of this story. First, this isn’t an isolated incident, it’s the third US copyright complaint against HYBE and its labels in about two months.

In May, four songwriters sued HYBE, ADOR, and NewJeans over “How Sweet,” and just one day before the “Swim” suit, a New York publisher sued over NewJeans’ 2023 track “ETA.”

Second, the plaintiffs’ own expert has a mixed track record: Alexander Stewart previously served as an expert witness in the Ed Sheeran “Thinking Out Loud” and Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” cases, both of which ended with juries ruling for the defendants, despite his testimony.

That doesn’t predict this outcome, but it’s relevant context absent from most write-ups.

Legal experts note the central hurdle for plaintiffs in cases like this is proving “access”, that the defendants plausibly heard the earlier work before creating their own.

That question remains untested; none of these allegations have been proven in court, and HYBE has signaled it will contest them.

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