A Japanese court has ruled that voices replicated by artificial intelligence (AI) can be protected under publicity rights, which hold economic value.
On September 30, the Tokyo District Court determined that Kenzhiro Tsuda, a voice actor known for his roles in "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Golden Kamuy," is entitled to publicity rights in a lawsuit against TikTok for the removal of videos. Publicity rights allow individuals to commercially exploit elements that identify them, such as their name, face, or voice. However, since the account and videos in question have already been deleted, the court found that Tsuda had no practical benefit from the lawsuit and denied his request for removal.
The account in question produced over 188 horror and conspiracy theory videos using AI narration similar to Tsuda's deep voice between July 2024 and September 2025, amassing over 210,000 followers and generating monthly earnings of 500,000 to 750,000 yen (approximately $4,300 to $6,500). Tsuda's team argued that the unauthorized use of his voice constituted a violation of publicity rights and unfair competition laws. The account operator claimed that the AI was trained using the voice of a friend of the poster.
Cases of unauthorized use of AI-generated voices and images for content creation are rapidly increasing in Japan. A 2025 survey by a non-profit organization, the Portrait Publicity Rights Advocacy Monitoring Group, reported over 40,000 suspected unauthorized posts on social media, with cumulative views reaching 335 million and estimated economic losses between 2 billion and 4.5 billion yen (approximately $17 million to $39 million).
Last month, an advisory body under the Ministry of Justice issued guidelines stating that voices should be protected under publicity rights, similar to images. It indicated that companies providing generative AI services could be held accountable depending on the extent of the infringement.
In South Korea, a proposed amendment to the civil law that would explicitly recognize the right to commercially use the names, images, and voices of celebrities has been pending in the National Assembly for four years. The bill was presented to the National Assembly's Legislative and Judiciary Committee on September 9.
Despite the legal vacuum, related disputes are emerging. The Intellectual Property Office under the Korean Patent Office issued corrective orders in March to four companies that produced and sold five types of merchandise, including photo cards, using the likenesses and names of 41 artists from six groups, including Seventeen, Boynextdoor, Tomorrow X Together, Aespa, IVE, and Rise. These companies had previously promised to cease infringement in April 2022 but failed to comply. This marks the first government-issued corrective order related to publicity rights infringement, with non-compliance potentially resulting in fines of up to 20 million won.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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