BTS copyright lawsuit cases have officially come to an end, clearing the global group of all plagiarism allegations and completely lifting the stigma of suspicion.
Plaintiffs Voluntarily Drop Copyright Lawsuit
According to US media outlets including Billboard on the 4th (local time), three plaintiffsβSteve Cooper, John Sandler, and Graylyn Johnsonβwho previously filed a lawsuit claiming that BTS’s new song ‘Swim’ plagiarized their unreleased demo song of the same title, submitted documents to the court requesting a full withdrawal of the lawsuit.
Previously in July, the three plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Big Hit Music, HYBE, HYBE America, and producers including Ryan Tedder, claiming that ‘Swim’ shared significant similarities with their unreleased demo track of the same name. They argued that their demo audio had been sent to various industry officials for review in March of last year, and that some executives at Artist Publishing Group had listened to the demo and shared it with others, including producers who worked on ‘Swim’. They also hired a musicology expert to compare the two tracks and claimed similarities were found.
In response, Big Hit Music firmly countered, stating, “This lawsuit is merely the unilateral claim of the plaintiff side. We clearly state that ‘Swim’ is an independent creation, and we plan to take strong legal action through future legal procedures.” Amidst these developments, the three plaintiffs voluntarily dropped the entire lawsuit just four months after it was filed.
Complete Freedom from Plagiarism Suspicion
Previously, BTS also won a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Melissa Mays on the 22nd of last month. At that time, Melissa Mays claimed that ‘Swim’ and six tracks from BTS’s 5th full-length album ‘ARIRANG’ used her songs without permission, but the court dismissed the lawsuit, judging that there was a lack of concrete factual evidence to support the plaintiff’s claims.
With this separate plagiarism lawsuit also concluding in a dismissal by the plaintiffs, BTS has gained complete freedom from all plagiarism suspicions. Meanwhile, BTS is currently meeting global fans through their world tour ‘ARIRANG’.
