BTS are facing a new kind of chart drama as their hit single Swim gets pulled into a U.S. copyright battle. Three Los Angeles based songwriters claim the Billboard Hot 100 number one copies their unreleased demo, also titled Swim, and have taken the fight to federal court.
The BTS Swim copyright lawsuit, filed July 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, targets HYBE, BigHit Music, HYBE America and several credited writers, including producer Ryan Tedder. The BTS members themselves are not defendants, but the case raises big questions for HYBE and for ARMY who have been streaming Swim non stop this era.
Inside the BTS ‘Swim’ copyright lawsuit
Songwriters Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler and Greylyn Johnson say they finished their demo Swim in March 2025, then sent it to industry contacts, including executives at Artist Publishing Group. According to their complaint, APG staff listened to the demo and shared it with others, creating a path of “access” to writers who later worked on BTS’s track.
The lawsuit claims BTS’s Swim copies “substantial” elements of the demo, especially the hook built around the word “swim,” along with harmonies, textures and rhythmic and lyrical ideas. The trio hired musicologist Alexander Stewart, whose report, quoted in the filing, calls copying the “obvious and inescapable conclusion” and says independent creation by the BTS team can be ruled out.
- An injunction blocking further exploitation of Swim
- Damages and a share of past and future profits
- Or, recognition as co writers on most of Swim plus a major royalty share
The plaintiffs say attempts to resolve the dispute before suing went nowhere, so they moved ahead with the case.
HYBE’s response and what is at stake for ‘Swim’
BigHit Music has pushed back hard, calling the lawsuit a one sided claim and insisting that Swim is an independently created work. The label says it plans a firm legal response through the U.S. court system. HYBE, APG and other defendants are expected to file their own arguments in the coming months.
Context matters here: Swim dropped on March 20, 2026 as the lead single of BTS’s fifth full album ARIRANG, debuting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and helping the album top the Billboard 200. It anchors the current world tour setlist and is still live on major platforms like Spotify as of mid July. This is also HYBE’s third recent U.S. copyright suit, following separate cases over NewJeans tracks, which the company also denies.
What ARMY streaming ‘Swim’ should know right now
For fans, the key point is simple: there is no court order blocking Swim at the moment. The complaint has been filed, but no judge has ruled on the claims or granted an injunction, and the song remains available to stream and buy as usual.
Music copyright lawsuits like this focus on rights holders and how money and credits are shared, not on listeners. In many high profile cases, songs stay online while companies argue, sometimes ending in credits or royalty tweaks behind the scenes. Unless a court later orders restrictions, ARMY can keep streaming Swim as part of the ARIRANG era and watch for any official updates from HYBE or platforms if that ever changes.