Tokyo court rules for the first time in Japan that a person's voice is protected by publicity rights

The Tokyo District Court ruled on Wednesday that human voices are protected under publicity rights, which let celebrities control the commercial value of their names and likenesses. The decision came in Japan's first lawsuit over voice rights infringement involving generative AI. Popular voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, known for a character in the anime series "Jujutsu Kaisen," brought the case over videos he says were made with AI that mimicked his voice. "A person's voice, similar to a likeness, is a symbol of the individual's personality," the court said, adding that unauthorized use may infringe those rights. Presiding Judge Aya Takahashi dismissed Tsuda's request that TikTok's operator delete the videos, because they had already been removed. Tsuda filed the suit in November last year, as unauthorized AI imitations of voice actors and singers became a wider problem. According to Jiji Press, the ruling is the first in Japan to recognize publicity-rights protection for a voice. It could give performers a legal basis to challenge commercial use of AI-generated copies of their voices.