01
Factual background & dispute
- The claimant is a well-known professional in education and parenting.
- A store promoted family-education books using footage of the claimant's public speeches and an AI-synthesized voice highly similar to the claimant's voice.
- The merchant argued that other online users had published the videos and that it only operated the store and sold the books.
02
Core issues & judicial focus
- When a synthesized voice is sufficiently identifiable as a particular natural person
- Whether the commercial use of a portrait and synthesized voice was authorized
- What review duty applies to a merchant that commissions influencer promotion
03
Judicial finding & holding
- The synthesized voice fell within the protection of the claimant's voice rights.
- The extensive use of the claimant's image and synthesized voice for product promotion infringed portrait and voice rights.
- The merchant was ordered to apologize and pay RMB 120,000 for economic loss and reasonable enforcement expenses.
04
Practical risk implications
01Commercial use of a synthesized voice requires express authorization covering synthesis, dissemination, and promotion.
02Brands and merchants should verify the source of influencer materials, personality-rights authorizations, and generated-content labels.
03Voice models, source materials, authorization documents, and published versions should remain traceable.