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A Japanese court has ruled that voices are protected by publicity rights, similar to portrait rights, in the country’s first ruling involving artificial intelligence (AI) voice cloning, local media reported.
The Tokyo District Court issued the decision on Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by prominent voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, according to Tokyo-based Kyodo News.
However, the court rejected Tsuda’s request for TikTok’s operator to remove videos narrated by an AI-generated voice that he said closely resembled his own.
Voice actor challenged AI-generated narration
Tsuda is best known for voicing Kento Nanami in the anime “Jujutsu Kaisen”.
Japan currently has no clear laws specifically governing voice rights. The Justice Ministry has recently issued guidelines stating that uploading social media videos featuring voices similar to those of real people and earning revenue from them may constitute a rights violation.
Tsuda filed the lawsuit after an anonymous user uploaded 188 videos about urban myths, the occult and trivia between July 2024 and September 2025. The videos used a voice similar to his, and the account was deleted in June this year.
Dispute over similarity to Tsuda’s voice
An analysis found strong similarities between Tsuda’s voice and the AI-generated voice. Tsuda argued that the resemblance could mislead viewers.
The TikTok operator argued that the narration used a “standard male voice” and would not be confused with Tsuda’s voice. The anonymous poster said the AI had been trained using the voice of a friend.
