1:43 PM PT -- A rep for Jake Paul tells TMZ, "This is absolutely without merit and once again, a feeble and disturbing attempt at using the U.S. legal system to gain notoriety and relevance through frivolous legal claim."
They continue, "Jake's legal team is handling the situation and looking forward to exposing the frivolous action for what it truly is."
Jake Paul is a conniving music thief ... so claim a team of music producers alleging in a new lawsuit the YouTube star jacked their work.
Producers Erik Belz, Jonathan Pakfar and Shane Abrahams are suing Jake claiming the entire backing music in Jake's popular "Litmas" track was stolen right from under them.
In docs, the producers claim they produced a track dubbed "Bad Santa" back in 2015. They claim they were in the same studio as Jake on multiple occasions and alleged Jake heard the track. The producers say lo and behold ... 2 years later, Jake released "Litmas."
Specifically, the producers claim their work is original, unique and specific in terms of pitch, register and overall use, which they claim can be entirely heard in Jake's track.
The group says Jake never asked for permission to use the music and has never compensated them ... even after his track racked up nearly 17 million views on YouTube.
The plaintiffs are suing for copyright infringement and want the court to order Jake to pull his song and fork over a slice of the profits. We've reached out to Jake for comment, so far, no word back.