A Tokyo court has ruled for the first time in Japan that a person's voice is legally protected, in a landmark case involving an artificial intelligence clone of a famous anime voice actor's baritone used on TikTok.
Partial victory for Kenjiro Tsuda
The ruling, delivered on Wednesday, marks a partial victory for Kenjiro Tsuda, 55, the actor behind starring roles in mega-franchises such as "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!". Tsuda had taken TikTok to court over a series of videos he said featured an AI-generated copy of his distinctive "lustrous" baritone.
The court, however, dismissed his request for the removal of the videos.
Presiding judge Aya Takahashi held that "the unauthorized use of a performer's voice... can be considered an infringement on publicity rights." The verdict is seen as Japan's first declaration that the human voice is protected under publicity rights where "the purpose of using that voice is exclusively to take advantage of its commercial appeal" — with the judge describing a voice as "as symbolic of one's personality as portraits are."
Why the takedown was denied
The court said TikTok was "no longer obliged to delete" the videos because the anonymous user behind them had taken them down several months after the lawsuit began. Tsuda's lawyer Takashi Hirano told reporters that the ruling "ended up making both sides look victorious."
TikTok had argued the voice was a "generic male voice" whose perceived similarity to Tsuda's was subjective at best, according to court records. In a statement to AFP, the platform said it would "respect the court's judgement while considering what steps to take after scrutinizing details" and would keep working on "the balance between technology development and rights protection."
An industry on edge
The case is believed to be Japan's first seeking to defend an individual's vocal identity against AI-generated copies. The disputed account, whose profile picture resembled a "Jujutsu Kaisen" character dubbed by Tsuda, combined images with seemingly AI-generated narration about urban legends and conspiracy theories. At one point it had more than 200,000 subscribers and would have brought in upwards of 500,000 yen (about $3,200) a month in revenue, the legal complaint argued.
AI imitation has become a growing concern among performers worldwide and has roiled Japan's animation industry, whose voice actors are sometimes revered as much as the characters they play. Voice actors including Yuko Sasaki, executive director of the Japan Actors Union, have launched a campaign called "No More" against using generative AI to mimic performers without permission.
"Our industry can be crushed" if "unbridled" AI voice cloning spreads on social media, actor Bin Shimada, who is part of the campaign, had warned.
Sources: Japan court rules human voice is protected in TikTok AI case — GMA News Online (Agence France-Presse)
Partial victory for Kenjiro Tsuda
The ruling, delivered on Wednesday, marks a partial victory for Kenjiro Tsuda, 55, the actor behind starring roles in mega-franchises such as "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!". Tsuda had taken TikTok to court over a series of videos he said featured an AI-generated copy of his distinctive "lustrous" baritone.
The court, however, dismissed his request for the removal of the videos.
Presiding judge Aya Takahashi held that "the unauthorized use of a performer's voice... can be considered an infringement on publicity rights." The verdict is seen as Japan's first declaration that the human voice is protected under publicity rights where "the purpose of using that voice is exclusively to take advantage of its commercial appeal" — with the judge describing a voice as "as symbolic of one's personality as portraits are."
Why the takedown was denied
The court said TikTok was "no longer obliged to delete" the videos because the anonymous user behind them had taken them down several months after the lawsuit began. Tsuda's lawyer Takashi Hirano told reporters that the ruling "ended up making both sides look victorious."
TikTok had argued the voice was a "generic male voice" whose perceived similarity to Tsuda's was subjective at best, according to court records. In a statement to AFP, the platform said it would "respect the court's judgement while considering what steps to take after scrutinizing details" and would keep working on "the balance between technology development and rights protection."
An industry on edge
The case is believed to be Japan's first seeking to defend an individual's vocal identity against AI-generated copies. The disputed account, whose profile picture resembled a "Jujutsu Kaisen" character dubbed by Tsuda, combined images with seemingly AI-generated narration about urban legends and conspiracy theories. At one point it had more than 200,000 subscribers and would have brought in upwards of 500,000 yen (about $3,200) a month in revenue, the legal complaint argued.
AI imitation has become a growing concern among performers worldwide and has roiled Japan's animation industry, whose voice actors are sometimes revered as much as the characters they play. Voice actors including Yuko Sasaki, executive director of the Japan Actors Union, have launched a campaign called "No More" against using generative AI to mimic performers without permission.
"Our industry can be crushed" if "unbridled" AI voice cloning spreads on social media, actor Bin Shimada, who is part of the campaign, had warned.
Sources: Japan court rules human voice is protected in TikTok AI case — GMA News Online (Agence France-Presse)
