Research On Legal Issues In The Protection Of The Voice Rights Of Natural Persons

The importance of natural human voice has been increasingly recognized with the trend of personality commodification.However,as one of the significant identifiers of natural persons,it has not been truly noticed and valued in the legal history of China.Excitingly,the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China(hereinafter referred to as the Civil Code)pays attention to this issue,and Article 1023,paragraph 2 of the Civil Code provides for the protection of natural person’s voice for the first time.Natural human voice naturally possesses spiritual attributes due to the emotions it carries.With the rise of short video platforms and live voice broadcasting,its economic value has also increased.People share their increasingly diverse and rich life,opinions,and entertainment on the Internet.Emerging media forms such as Douyin and Bilibili provide more intuitive,vivid,and interactive communication methods,displaying new information and experiences.At the same time,they provide a broader stage for creators,speakers,and entertainment stars,enabling their voices and influence to be more widely spread.Modern technology also enables every natural person to conveniently use recording equipment to record and disseminate their voices,making their voices not limited to a certain time or place but can appear in the public eye at any time.Voice right holders can also choose to authorize others or institutions to use and disclose their voices,thereby obtaining certain economic benefits.People are increasingly diversifying their use of their voices on the Internet.It is evident that as a medium with spiritual value,the property value of voice is increasingly prominent in today’s society,but this also leads to an increasing risk of voice infringement.The way in which the Civil Code protects the voice of natural persons is by reference to the protection of the right of portrait.This reflects that society’s development has led people to recognize the value of voice,and has established some legal norms to protect the voice of natural persons.However,using only the phrase "reference to the relevant provisions for the protection of portrait rights" cannot establish the voice interest as a clear and specific personality right and establish an independent status for it,while ignoring the differences in the inherent and essential aspects between voice and portrait.Therefore,in many cases,the protection provisions of portrait rights cannot be simply applied to the protection of natural person’s voice.Moreover,the legal technique of "reference to" itself has limitations,such as limiting its scope,degree,and manner of application.In the long run,such legal provisions may eventually lead to difficulties in protecting the rights of natural person’s voice.Therefore,this article argues from the basic connotation of voice rights and from the perspective of legal attributes that voice rights are not only personality interests,but also an independent and specific personality right,and analyzes the shortcomings of the protection of voice rights by reference to the protection of portrait rights,elaborating in detail why simply referring to the protection provisions of portrait rights is not feasible.Finally,a legislative comparison study is conducted to clarify the specific content of voice rights and to construct a legal system for voice rights in China,in order to provide practical and feasible protection for the voice rights of natural persons.