Tokyo court says a performer’s voice is legally protected in AI cloning case

The Tokyo District Court ruled on 30 September 2026 that a person’s voice can be protected under Japanese law in the same way as their likeness, in what is believed to be the country’s first lawsuit over an AI imitation of a voice.

The case was brought against the operator of TikTok by Kenjiro Tsuda, 55, a voice actor known for the anime series Jujutsu Kaisen and Yu-Gi-Oh!. An anonymous account had posted videos in which a voice resembling his narrated urban legends and conspiracy theories. Its profile picture resembled a Jujutsu Kaisen character Tsuda plays. According to the complaint, the account had more than 200,000 followers at its peak and could have earned over 500,000 yen (about $3,200) a month, the news agency AFP reported.

“The unauthorised use of a performer’s voice… can be considered an infringement on publicity rights,” presiding judge Aya Takahashi said. Publicity rights let a person control and profit from the commercial use of their identity. The court said a voice is protected when it is used solely to exploit its power to attract customers.

Tsuda’s actual claim, however, was dismissed. He had asked for the videos to be removed and sought no damages. The uploader deleted the account while the case was under way, so the court found TikTok had nothing left to take down. TikTok had argued that the narration was a “generic male voice”. It said it would respect the judgment while reviewing the details.

Tsuda’s lawyer, Takashi Hirano, said the ruling “ended up making both sides look victorious”. He told the legal news site Bengo4 that it was probably the first judgment to state explicitly that voices fall within publicity rights, and that his client did not plan to appeal. An earlier attempt to identify the uploader had failed because the platform’s connection logs had passed their retention period.

Japanese voice actors have campaigned under the slogan “No More” against the use of generative AI to mimic performers without consent.