Three little-known songwriters — Steve Cooper, Jon Sandler and Greylyn Johnson — have filed a copyright lawsuit alleging that BTS's chart-topping single "Swim" copied key elements from their own unpublished demo of the same name. The suit, filed on Wednesday 8 July and first reported by Billboard, matters because "Swim" debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 this spring as the lead track from the album ARIRANG, making it one of the year's most prominent hits; the plaintiffs describe the alleged copying as an "obvious and inescapable conclusion".

The lawsuit does not name BTS or its members, instead targeting the group's label, HYBE, along with its subsidiaries HYBE America and Big Hit Music, and the track's songwriters, including former OneRepublic member and Grammy-winning writer Ryan Tedder. To satisfy the "access" requirement central to copyright cases, the plaintiffs claim they circulated their demo from March 2025, including to executives at Artist Publishing Group who allegedly shared it with some of the "Swim" writers. They cite musicologist Alexander Stewart, who concluded elements were "unequivocally taken" from the demo — though Stewart was previously retained in cases against Ed Sheeran and Led Zeppelin that juries rejected. HYBE, APG and Tedder did not immediately comment, and the defendants are expected to seek dismissal in the months ahead.