Warsaw court calls AI-cloned voice advertisement a deepfake

The Warsaw Regional Court’s intellectual-property division has ruled that advertisements using an AI-generated copy of voice actor Jarosław Łukomski’s voice had the characteristics of a deepfake, in what has been described as Poland’s first court case over an AI-cloned voice. The Nov. 13 decision ordered advertiser JFC Polska to remove the material, refrain from using it again, publish apologies and pay damages.

JFC Polska must post an apology on Facebook for 45 days, on its website for 14 days, and on Wirtualne Media. It was also ordered to pay Łukomski 30,000 zlotys, plus interest, for harm and 17,280 zlotys for losses, as well as legal costs.

Łukomski brought the case after hearing a voice resembling his in online advertising for household sewage-treatment systems. He had not recorded the material, authorized its use or been paid for the campaign. Proceedings had been under way since late January and the ruling came at the fifth hearing.

The court’s test was whether listeners could believe that words generated with the cloned voice had genuinely come from the person being imitated. Judge Sylwia Wit vel Wilk said the AI had created a voice that identified the plaintiff and attributed statements to him that he had not made.

A court-appointed expert concluded that the generated and original voices were clearly and deceptively similar from the perspective of an average listener. The court held that a voice is a protected personal good for every individual, irrespective of fame or professional recognition. It found that the nature, quality or positivity of the message, and the number of people who received it, did not alter the central question of perceived authenticity.

A JFC graphic designer testified that he had used AI voice-model tools and samples from a voice library to create advertising narrators, later adjusting pace and vocal emotion. The ads included versions in Polish, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian. Łukomski’s lawyers argued that the service terms made the advertiser responsible for checking generated output, even where external tools were used.

The court awarded less than the claimant had sought because it questioned the methods used to value his losses. Łukomski had requested 50,000 zlotys for harm and more than 100,000 zlotys in damages. The judgment is not final, and JFC Polska’s lawyers said they would decide on further action after consulting the company.

The decision follows a March 2023 Supreme Court of Poland judgment cited by the Polish Council of Legal Advisers, which treated a voice as an independent personal good forming part of physical identity and characterized digital voice alteration and false attribution of statements as an impermissible deepfake. A legal expert told Rzeczpospolita that the Warsaw ruling could influence similar disputes, although Polish courts do not operate under a doctrine of binding precedent.