“Japan Extends Publicity Rights to Cover AI-Generated Voice”: Sports, Media & Entertainment Team

Japan Extends Publicity Rights to Cover 
AI-Generated Voice
New Ministry of Justice guidance, and what it means beyond the entertainment industry.

On 7 August 2026, Japan's Ministry of Justice published interpretive guidelines confirming that an AI-generated copy of a person's voice is protected in the same way as their image, as an asset covered by publicity rights. The guidelines rest on a Supreme Court judgment from 2012 involving the Japanese pop duo Pink Lady, and they arrive without any new legislation. Japan has extended an existing doctrine to cover a new kind of harm, and the reasoning behind that extension applies just as forcefully to athletes as it does to the voice actors and singers whose complaints prompted it.

The guidelines came out of a study group at the Ministry's Civil Affairs Bureau, chaired by Professor Yoshiyuki Tamura of the University of Tokyo, which met five times between April and July before publishing its report.

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Japanese: 「日本がAI生成の声にもパブリシティ権を適用」：スポーツ、メディア＆エンターテインメントプラクティスチーム

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