Japanese court says a person’s voice can be protected by publicity rights in Tsuda Kenjiro AI case

A Tokyo court has, for the first time in Japan, said that a person’s voice can fall under publicity rights, extending a legal concept traditionally used to protect the commercial value of a celebrity’s name or likeness. The ruling came in a case brought by voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, known for roles including Kento Nanami in Jujutsu Kaisen and Hyakunosuke Ogata in Golden Kamuy, against the operator of TikTok over videos that allegedly used generative AI to imitate his voice. The Tokyo District Court ruled on Sept. 30 that a voice, like a likeness, can serve as a symbol of an individual’s identity, and unauthorized use aimed at exploiting its customer appeal may infringe publicity rights. Still, the court rejected Tsuda’s request because the videos at issue had already been removed from the company’s servers. It did not decide whether the videos themselves infringed Tsuda’s rights. The case centers on an anonymous account called Nanami, which reportedly had more than 210,000 followers and posted at least 188 videos between July 2024 and September 2025. The decision is being watched as an early judicial marker for how Japan may handle AI voice imitation, even as questions remain over proof standards, enforcement, and the broader legal treatment of voice in the age of generative AI.