A court in Japan has ruled that the human voice has legal protection, following a landmark case involving actor Kenjiro Tsuda and a TikTok account that he claimed had cloned his voice in its AI-generated videos. The Tokyo district court stated on Wednesday that voices should have the same protection as publicity rights.
Kenjiro Tsuda, known for voicing Kento Nanami in the anime Jujutsu Kaisen, brought the legal action against TikTok. The court's presiding judge, Aya Takahashi, said that the unauthorised use of a performer’s voice can be considered an infringement on publicity rights.
The court dismissed Tsuda’s request for the videos to be removed, noting that the user had deleted them shortly after the suit was filed in November of last year. This verdict marks the first time a Japanese court has declared the human voice protected under publicity rights, which refers to the ability to control and profit from aspects of an individual’s identity.
The protection applies if the voice is used exclusively to take advantage of its commercial appeal, according to Judge Takahashi. Japan's voice actors have expressed increasing concern that AI mimicry could threaten their livelihoods and the industry.