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The story
Voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda sued the operator of the video app TikTok, demanding removal of a video that used AI to clone his voice without permission. On September 30, the Tokyo District Court dismissed Tsuda’s claim, apparently mainly because the video had already been taken down before the lawsuit was filed. At the same time, the ruling marked the first time a court has suggested that a person’s voice could be protected under “publicity rights,” making the outcome more nuanced than a simple win or loss. On 5ch, reactions ranged from astonishment at how accurately the voice was reproduced, to an understanding that the removal request was the only real point at issue, to confusion over the fact that no law yet directly regulates AI voice cloning.
Voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda filed a lawsuit against the operator of the video-sharing app TikTok, seeking removal of a video in which someone had used generative AI to imitate his voice without permission. The Tokyo District Court issued its ruling on September 30. Presiding Judge Aya Takahashi dismissed Tsuda’s claim.
(details omitted)
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Guess that gives the green light to all those "in the style of ~"
voice-gimmick videos then lol
It's just that the removal request failed because the video was already deleted — that about right?
I was wondering why there were a ridiculous number of them
That's literally the most important part and this garbage article doesn't even put it in the headline
This is exactly why crappy journalism is making people dumber
I see
So the actual point of contention
was only the removal response
Since TikTok itself isn't the one generating the audio
you'd have to go after the original uploader for this to mean anything
Makes me wonder how it would've gone if the video hadn't been deleted
This was a lawsuit meant to raise the issue and push things forward from the start
Something's off about "no consequences as long as you delete it when caught"
Quote: "Meanwhile, Tsuda's side argued that the unauthorized exploitation of the economic value of his voice was the real issue, noting each video averaged about 1.47 million views and the uploader was earning ¥500,000–750,000 a month."
Well, the lawsuit was literally just a request to take it down
Can't help it, it's a breaking-news post
Then why'd you delete it? Exactly.
Some people just get scared off when a yakuza-type comes at them with accusations, even when they're in the right
That's the whole point of SLAPP-style lawsuits — an intimidation tactic
It's a hassle, so platforms just delete on report
There are even cases where the real rights holder's own content gets taken down because of a fake copyright group's complaint
I think that case would just be a straightforward defamation charge
Doing an impression is a skill,
but this is training AI directly on someone's actual voice and then doing whatever you want with it — that's the nasty part
The person themselves could get it taken down if they sued
They just leave it alone because it's a hassle
that shouldn't let you shut out someone who just naturally sounds like Tsuda Kenjiro
Unless people who happen to sound like Tsuda Kenjiro are also protected,
the logic doesn't hold together
Isn't it fine as long as it's entirely self-contained?
Do your own impression, or process your own voice data yourself
Even rap sampling has time-length limits
No matter how much you process it, using the original data at all makes it a rip-off
Process your own voice to sound similar instead
And obviously, don't connect it to the internet
Because ripping data straight off the internet = unauthorized use, plain and simple
Then what about something like this?
↓
https://youtu.be/omHNJmXRV1A
AI is insane
It can reproduce it this well?
TV production is basically done for
It's dumb, but
I can't stop watching it lol
What it was trained on is easy enough to prove, they'd just have to hand over the data
I think it's only natural to see it that way though
I think Hiroyuki and Toshio Okada were both more like "go ahead and use it, don't care"
But why sue when you knew you'd lose?
All it did was hand out official permission that doing this freely is fine lol
That's not really the story. It's just that the video was already deleted, so there was nothing left to actually demand
Background and Key Points of This Story
Publicity rights attribute the customer-drawing power (economic value) of a celebrity’s name or likeness to that person; the requirements were laid out in a 2012 Supreme Court ruling (the Pink Lady case), and the right has mainly been recognized in relation to names and likenesses since then. Today’s ruling draws attention because it’s the first to suggest this protection could also extend to a person’s “voice.” On 5ch, opinions are split between those reading the dismissal of the removal request as “AI voice mimicry has been ruled legal” and those who understand it as simply meaning the request lost practical purpose because the video was already deleted — a distinction that makes the ruling’s real substance easy to misread. Japan still has no law directly regulating AI voice mimicry, making this an early test case for the legal framework that exists short of one.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Lawsuit Lost] Voice Actor Kenjiro Tsuda Claims AI Cloned His Voice Without Permission — Tokyo District Court Dismisses Removal Request Against TikTok Operator.”
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