Three Los Angeles songwriters have filed a copyright lawsuit against HYBE, alleging that BTS's hit single "Swim" copied a demo of the same name they wrote and recorded in early 2025.
Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler, and Greylyn Johnson filed the complaint July 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. According to the lawsuit, the trio completed their "Swim" demo in March 2025 and circulated it to industry contacts, including representatives at Artist Publishing Group, which the suit names as a defendant alongside HYBE Co., HYBE America, HYBE Music Services, and Big Hit Music.
Notably, BTS's RM and producer Pdogg are credited as co-writers of "Swim" but are not named as defendants in the suit. The complaint centers on the songwriters and companies involved in the track's creation rather than the group itself.
The plaintiffs say they hired musicologist Alexander Stewart, who has worked on high-profile cases involving Ed Sheeran and Led Zeppelin, to compare the two songs. His preliminary report, cited in the complaint, states the similarities between the versions "were unequivocally taken from" the plaintiffs' original work, pointing to matching hooks, harmonies, and rhythmic patterns.
"Swim" appears on BTS's Arirang album, released in March 2026. The lawsuit is the third U.S. copyright complaint filed against HYBE in two months, following similar suits over NewJeans' "How Sweet" and "ETA."
HYBE has not yet issued a public response, and the allegations remain unproven in court.
