Bobby Kent claims he concocted the chant in 1980, while he was working as a musical director for the San Diego Chargers. Kent says he liked it so much, he immediately registered the copyright for the song.

Kent claims when he realized the Lakers were using his tune at its games, he contacted management in 2010 and they paid him $3,000 for a one-year license.

That license, Kent says, has expired, but the beat goes on ... and he's angry enough to sue. Kent is asking for $150,000 for every time the Lakers used the song since the license allegedly expired.

But we've done some independent research here at TMZ which may or may not affect Kent's claim he wrote the "charge" ditty. First, "The Flintsones" TV show used it back in the '60s.