Breaking

Tokyo Court Rejects Kenjiro Tsuda's Request to Remove Alleged AI Voice-Clone Videos from TikTok

September 30, 2026 at 00:39 EDT

Policy & Regulation
Media Generation

The Tokyo District Court has dismissed voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda's request for TikTok's operator to remove videos that he alleged used generative AI to imitate his voice without permission, in a closely watched test of voice rights in Japan. The ruling leaves unresolved, at least for now, how far existing publicity-rights doctrine can reach when an anonymous account uses synthetic narration that a performer says is identifiable as his voice.

Sept. 30, 2026 · Tokyo District Court

AI Voice Claim Dismissed

A court rejected Kenjiro Tsuda's request to force removal of alleged AI voice-clone videos, keeping Japan's legal test for synthetic voices unsettled.

188

videos at issue

200,000+

subscribers at one point

500,000+

yen alleged monthly revenue

Alleged monthly revenue range

500,000 yenlower alleged figure

750,000 yenupper alleged figure

Each block represents about 250,000 yen.

Performer concern

Actors say trained voices have commercial value and unauthorized clones could reduce work and control.

Legal caution

Courts must separate identifiable impersonation from ordinary similarity, mimicry and naturally similar voices.

What remains open

Proof
How close must a synthetic voice be?

Commerce
When does a voice become persona value?

Platforms
What deletion duties apply to hosts?

Continue reading

The rest of this article is for AI News Blitz readers. Choose an option below to keep reading.