Warsaw court rules ad with AI-generated voice was a deepfake — RMF24
The District Court in Warsaw, Poland, ruled that the use in advertising of a voice created with artificial intelligence and resembling the voice of narrator Jarosław Łukomski showed signs of a deepfake. JFC Polska was ordered to remove the advertising materials, publish an apology and pay the claimant. The ruling has not yet become final, RMF24 reports.
Voice examination
The case was heard by the Intellectual Property Division of the District Court in Warsaw from the end of January. It concerned JFC Polska’s creation and use of a digital model of Łukomski’s voice in advertising the company’s products without his knowledge or consent.
A court-appointed expert concluded that, for an average listener, the voice in the advertising materials and Łukomski’s voice are distinctly and misleadingly similar. In the reasoning of the ruling, Judge Sylwia Wit vel Wilk stated that the advertising had the nature of a deepfake — material created using AI that may create the impression that a certain person said words they did not actually say.
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Apology and payments
The court recognized a voice as a personal non-property right subject to protection regardless of a person’s popularity or professional recognition. It did not agree with the argument of Łukomski’s representatives that his voice had a special status, stressing that such protection applies to every person.
JFC Polska must cease using the disputed voice in the future and remove the existing materials. The company must also publish an apology on its Facebook profile for 45 days, on its own website for 14 days, and place it in the publication Wirtualne Media. The court awarded Łukomski 30,000 zlotys in compensation for non-pecuniary damage with interest and more than 17,000 zlotys in compensation, and also ordered the company to pay legal costs. Representatives of JFC Polska said they would decide on further steps after consulting with the client.
