A Tokyo court has ruled that an AI tool violated actor Kenjiro Tsuda's rights by cloning his voice for TikTok videos, marking a landmark legal decision in Japan on voice protection.
The Tokyo district court said on Wednesday that voices should receive the same legal protection as publicity rights. Tsuda, known for voicing the character Kento Nanami in the anime Jujutsu Kaisen, brought the case against a TikTok account that he claimed had replicated his "lustrous" baritone voice in AI-generated content.
The court's verdict extends Japanese law to treat human voices as a protected asset. The ruling comes as AI voice cloning technology has advanced rapidly, creating new legal questions about how personal identity and likeness should be safeguarded.
Tsuda's case is closely watched internationally because it addresses a gap in intellectual property law. Many jurisdictions have long protected an individual's right to control use of their image, name and likeness for commercial or reputational benefit. Voice protection remains newer and less codified, particularly as synthetic audio becomes more convincing.
The decision does not appear to award specific damages or mandate particular remedies in Tsuda's case, based on the available details. The court focused on the legal principle: voices now qualify for the same category of rights protection in Japan.
The ruling may influence how platforms like TikTok moderate AI-generated content in Japan and potentially set a precedent for other jurisdictions weighing similar disputes. It also signals that Japanese courts view voice cloning without consent as a violation of a performer's commercial and personal rights.