BTS ‘Swim’ Lawsuit, Bad Bunny Ruling, StubHub Class Action & More Top Music Law News
Categoria: Musica
In this week's Legal Beat newsletter, HYBE faces a pair of copyright cases, Bad Bunny gets bad news, StubHub sued over scalping, and much more.
Por Billboard | 14/07/2026
It was a busy week for the copyright lawyers over at HYBE, as the kpop giant was hit with not one but two separate infringement lawsuits over songs by BTS and NewJeans . In a case filed Tuesday, a company called All Surface Publishing claimed that the 2023 NewJeans song “ETA,” a minor hit, stole multiple elements from an instrumental dance track called “Samir’s Theme” that had been released nearly two decades earlier. Related BTS Hit ‘Swim’ Faces Copyright Lawsuit Claiming it Was Stolen From Demo: ‘Obvious and Inescapable’ DJ Quik Says His Son 'Made a Mistake' Following Murder Conviction, Pleads With Fans to Stop Asking About It Naoshi Fujikura of Universal Music Japan on Japan's Unique Superfan Culture & Global Ambitions: Billboard Global Power Players Interview Then on Wednesday (July 8), an even bigger claim: That BTS’s “Swim” — a smash hit that debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 as the lead track off ARIRANG and spent 15 weeks on the chart — lifted material from an unpublished demo by three little-known songwriters. The case cited an expert report that “unequivocally” concludes the BTS track copied the earlier song. The report’s author, musicologist Alexander Stewart, is a name music lawyers will recognize. He was retained by the accusers in the high-profile copyright case against Ed Sheeran over Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” as well as by the plaintiffs in a similar infringement case against Led Zeppelin over “Stairway To Heaven.” In both cases, of course, those claims were later rejected by juries. You’re reading The Legal Beat , a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro , offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, subscribe here . Other top stories this week… -It ain’t over yet: A self-published Florida poet who claims Taylor Swift stole lyrics filed a quick appeal less than two days after her latest copyright case against the superstar was thrown out of court . -Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court ruled Bad Bunny ’s ex-girlfriend can keep suing the star for allegedly using her voice without permission on the chart-topping album Un Verano Sin Ti . -In yet more HYBE news: The label initiated legal action to curb the sale of knockoff BTS merch during U.S. stops of the superstar K-pop group’s blockbuster ARIRANG world tour. – Boosie Badazz paid $600,000 to a pair of lobbyists to seek a pardon from President Donald Trump and is now taking legal action to demand a refund after it never materialized. -A New York appeals court rejected 50 Cent’s request to automatically win a lawsuit against an ex-girlfriend over her “tell-all” Instagram posts — not a huge shock after how arguments went . -A judge issued an early-stage ruling in the legal battle between Fuerza Regida and its label Rancho Humilde, saying it was too early to decide the case’s core question about the band’s reco