Jujutsu Kaisen Voice Actor Kenjiro Tsuda’s AI Voice Lawsuit Gets Landmark Ruling as Japan Court Recognizes Voice as a Publicity Right, But Rejects His TikTok Video Removal Request

Kenjiro Tsuda’s legal battle over the alleged AI imitation of his voice has resulted in a significant ruling for voice actors and generative AI in Japan. The Tokyo District Court has recognized that a person’s voice can fall under publicity-right protection, marking the country’s first such judgment, while ultimately rejecting Tsuda’s request to have the disputed TikTok videos removed.

Tsuda, best known to anime fans as Kento Nanami in Jujutsu Kaisen, sued TikTok’s operator over videos featuring narration he argued closely resembled his distinctive voice. The case involved 188 videos posted between July 2024 and September 2025, covering subjects including urban legends, occult topics, and trivia.

Japan Court Recognizes Voice as a Publicity Right

Presiding Judge Aya Takahashi said the unauthorized use of a performer’s voice can constitute an infringement of publicity rights when the voice has commercial appeal and is being used specifically to exploit that appeal. The court effectively treated a recognizable voice as an aspect of personal identity comparable to a person’s likeness.

This distinction makes the ruling particularly important for voice actors, whose recognizable performances can have significant commercial value. Japan currently has no specific statute that explicitly establishes a standalone “voice right,” although recent government guidance has addressed unauthorized use of voices through generative AI.

Despite the important legal finding, Tsuda did not receive the specific removal order he requested. The court noted that the TikTok account and disputed videos had already been deleted, meaning there was no longer material for TikTok to remove.

The result therefore represents a partial victory for Tsuda. While the court did not order the removal of the videos, its recognition of voice-based publicity rights could have much broader consequences for how AI-generated imitations of performers are handled in Japan.