Tokyo court rules AI voice cloning can violate a performer's rights
A landmark ruling says a person's voice is legally protected like a portrait, after a Jujutsu Kaisen voice actor sued over AI clips that used his "lustrous" baritone without permission.
What happened: The Tokyo District Court ruled on Wednesday that a human voice can be legally protected as a "publicity right," the same category that covers a person's image or portrait. The case was brought by Kenjiro Tsuda, the actor who voices Kento Nanami in the anime Jujutsu Kaisen, after an anonymous TikTok account posted 188 AI-narrated videos between July 2024 and September 2025 using a voice he said was unmistakably his. The court agreed unauthorized use of a performer's voice can infringe publicity rights, but it dismissed Tsuda's request to force TikTok to remove the clips, since the account had already deleted them after he filed suit last November. Tsuda's lawyer said he will not appeal.
Why it matters: Japan has no law that explicitly spells out voice rights, so this is the first time a Japanese court has said the voice itself deserves the same protection as likeness. Voice actors in Japan can become genuine celebrities through anime work, and many say AI cloning tools now threaten both their income and the authenticity of their craft. The Japan Actors Union has argued a trained voice represents years of work, not something to be copied for free. The ruling gives performers a legal hook to challenge unauthorized AI voice clones, even though it stops short of guaranteeing quick takedowns.
How the ruling works, plainly: Judge Aya Takahashi said a voice is "as symbolic of one's personality as portraits are," and that protection applies when someone uses a voice specifically to cash in on its commercial appeal. In this case, the disputed account mixed AI narration with occult and conspiracy content, reportedly earning its operator 500,000 to 750,000 yen (roughly $3,200 to $4,800) a month. TikTok argued the narration was just a "generic" or "standard" male voice, and the account's operator claimed the AI had actually been trained on a friend's voice, not Tsuda's, so the two sides never agreed on whose voice was actually used.
What's still unresolved: Because the videos were deleted before the court ruled, there was no live takedown order to test how enforcement would actually work. Japan's Justice Ministry has separately issued guidance suggesting that posting AI content with a voice resembling a real person, especially for profit, may violate their rights, but this remains guidance rather than statute. Actors in Japan launched a "No More" campaign in 2024 against unauthorized AI use of their faces and voices, and this ruling is likely to fuel pressure for clearer legislation rather than settle the issue outright.