Voices, Songs and Avatars: The New Law of Music, Games & AI
A game studio just won a voice-cloning case — on trademark grounds
On 10 September 2026, the Pudong New Area People's Court in Shanghai ordered an AI voice provider to stop selling real-time "voice packs" that let users speak as 63 characters from miHoYo's Genshin Impact, and to pay 750,000 yuan in compensation. The reasoning is what matters for practitioners: the court protected the character designs through copyright, treated the characters' distinctive voices as functioning like a trademark, and found unfair competition — rejecting the argument that any voice rights belonged only to the performers.
That one judgment shows how music, games and AI law now overlap. A single dispute touched copyright, trademark, unfair competition and performers' rights. In the music industry, the same pressure is visible in the settlements between major labels and AI music platforms such as Udio since late 2025, which moved the conversation from litigation to licensing.
What this book adds
Playing with Rights: Music, Games & AI (Kluwer Law International, October 2026) by José Roberto Herrera is the first book-length legal analysis of the meeting point between music and video games. Herrera, an IP and entertainment lawyer with an LLM from the Max Planck Institute in Munich, covers music licensing, rhythm games, user-generated content, virtual concerts and AI, with comparative analysis of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany and Latin America. Chapter 5 deals directly with AI-generated music, hybrid human–AI works, deepfakes and voice cloning.
Where practitioners will use it
- Licensing music into games: Chapter 2 breaks down the "IP anatomy" of a song in a game, and Appendix B provides sample licensing clauses.
- UGC, covers and mods: Chapter 3 shows how copyright and EULAs decide who owns what players create.
- Virtual performance and voice: Chapters 4 and 5, plus a comparative table on the right of publicity in video games, support clearance of avatar deals and responses to AI voice clones.
For law libraries
Music, games and AI law usually sit in separate entertainment, copyright and technology titles. This volume brings them together, and its Latin American chapter covers ground rarely found in English-language literature. It fits naturally alongside our Law collection and our Digital Law titles.
CLNZ Books supplies libraries, law firms and professionals worldwide, with institutional invoicing, purchase-order support and the price including worldwide shipping. This is a print-on-demand title: please allow approximately 1 to 3 weeks for printing before dispatch. Questions about acquisitions? Write to info@clnzbooks.com.
Q&A
Can a video game developer stop AI services from cloning its characters' voices?
In September 2026 a Shanghai court ruled for miHoYo against an AI voice provider imitating 63 Genshin Impact characters, relying on copyright, trademark-like protection of the voices and unfair competition.
Is AI-generated music protected by copyright?
It depends on the jurisdiction and on the level of human creative input. Playing with Rights compares the position in the US, EU, UK, Germany and Latin America, including hybrid human–AI works.
What licences are needed to put a song in a video game?
Usually rights in both the composition and the sound recording must be cleared. Chapter 2 of the book explains the structure, and Appendix B offers sample clauses.
Who owns user-generated content, covers and mods in games?
Ownership depends on copyright law and on the game's EULA and terms of service; Chapter 3 analyses how they interact.
Is there a book on the law of music, video games and AI?
Yes — Playing with Rights: Music, Games & AI by José Roberto Herrera (Kluwer Law International, 2026, ISBN 9789403536132), available from CLNZ Books with worldwide shipping included in the price.