Japan Court Recognizes Publicity Rights in Voice for 1st Time

Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Wednesday found that human voices are subject to protection under publicity rights, which allow celebrities to monopolize the commercial value derived from their names and portraits.

The court ruled on the first lawsuit in Japan over voice rights infringement involving generative artificial intelligence, which was brought by popular Japanese voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda over videos he claims to have been created using AI that mimicked his voice.

Presiding Judge Aya Takahashi, however, dismissed Tsuda's request for the operator of short-video platform TikTok to delete the videos in question as they have already been removed.

The ruling was the first in Japan to recognize protection under publicity rights for a person's voice. It said, "A person's voice, similar to a likeness, is a symbol of the individual's personality" and that unauthorized use may infringe such rights.

Tsuda, known for voicing a popular character in Japanese anime series "Jujutsu Kaisen," filed the suit in November last year, after unauthorized imitations of the voices of voice actors and singers had emerged as an issue.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]