Japan Court Rules Voice Is Protected As Publicity Right in AI Cloning Case

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Japanese court ruled Wednesday that voices are protected as a publicity right, similar to portrait rights, in the first such ruling in the country.

The Tokyo District Court, however, dismissed the demand by the plaintiff, voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, for the operator of TikTok to take down videos narrated using artificial intelligence with a voice that he claimed was similar to his own. Tsuda is best known for voicing the character Kento Nanami in the anime "Jujutsu Kaisen."

Japan does not currently have laws that clearly stipulate voice rights, but the Justice Ministry has recently laid out guidelines stating that uploading videos to social media that use voices similar to those of real people and generating revenue from them may constitute a rights violation.

According to the lawsuit, an anonymous poster uploaded 188 videos about urban myths, the occult and trivia between July 2024 and September 2025 that were narrated by a voice similar to Tsuda's.

An analysis found strong similarities between Tsuda's voice and the AI, which the plaintiff said misled viewers. The person who posted the videos was allegedly earning between 500,000 and 750,000 yen ($3,200 to $4,800) per month, using Tsuda's voice traits to increase commercial value.

The operator of TikTok claimed the narration employed a "standard male voice" and would not be mistaken for Tsuda, while the poster said the AI was trained using a friend's voice.

They also argued there was no merit to the lawsuit as the account had been deleted by June 29.