Voice as an Object of Personal Non-Property Rights Protection

A new draft law has been submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, proposing an amendment to Part 1 of the Civil Code by adding Article 152.3, which introduces the protection of a citizen’s voice as an object of personal non-property rights. The uniqueness of a voice, with its characteristics such as pitch, range, strength, and timbre, allows for personal identification. The proposed legislation aims to protect the voice, including cases of voice imitation or real-time speech synthesis.

Artificial intelligence, after being trained on recordings of a real voice, can subsequently imitate it, raising the risk of derivative recordings being used in ways unacceptable to the voice owner.

The draft law was developed by the AI Alliance and the National Federation of the Music Industry. According to the explanatory note, a person's voice can serve as a source of income and hold commercial value, especially for dubbing actors, singers, and other performers. However, the current Russian legislation does not protect the right to one’s voice, complicating its use in civil relationships unless it is part of an intellectual property asset.

The document also specifies that, after a citizen's death, their voice may only be used with the consent of the children and surviving spouse, or in their absence, with the consent of the parents.