Japan court rules voice is protected as publicity right in AI cloning case

TOKYO - A Japanese court ruled Wednesday that voices are protected as a publicity right, similar to portrait rights, in the first such ruling in the country.

The Tokyo District Court, however, dismissed the demand by the plaintiff, popular voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, for the operator of TikTok to take down videos narrated using artificial intelligence with a voice that he claimed was similar to his own, noting the videos had already been deleted since he filed his suit last November.