[Article / Personality rights, etc.] On the legal protection of voiceprints (大塚理彦, Patent, May 2025)
Updated: 2 hours ago
Article information
Categories: Other Japanese law / Copyright / Unfair competition law
Topics: AI and intellectual property / Personality and publicity rights
Published on this website: 2026-09-29
[Article / Personality rights, etc.] On the legal protection of voiceprints (大塚理彦, Patent, May 2025)
1. Personality rights and “voiceprint rights”
Under current law, portrait rights are recognized on the basis of the right to pursue happiness under Article 13 of the Constitution.
2. Publicity rights
The Supreme Court’s Pink Lady decision recognized the right to use exclusively the customer-attracting power of portraits and the like.
3. Copyright Act and Unfair Competition Prevention Act
AI training at the development stage (Copyright Act, Article 30-4) and performers’ rights (rights of sound and visual recording, etc.) alone cannot sufficiently prevent imitation of the “quality” or “style” of a voice.
Responses under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act are considered with reference to Korean examples.
4. Conclusion
Recognizing voiceprints as a “personal interest” and establishing “voiceprint rights” would bridge the gap to property protection through publicity rights.
In the generative AI era, to supplement the limitations of copyright law, expansion of personality rights and flexible application of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, or express provisions through legislative amendment, are called for.
Originally posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7510486991591981056/
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