In 2378 a Federation arbitrator ruled that the Doctor was an artist with the right to control his own work, a first step toward legal rights for holograms.
In 2378 the Doctor wrote a holonovel about a medical hologram mistreated aboard a starship, and his publisher on Earth released it without his approval. Voyager's crew were unhappy with the way they were shown in it, and the Doctor revised it. The publisher refused to stop distributing the original, arguing that a hologram had no rights to his work.
A Federation arbitrator heard the case by a long-range link. He declined to say that the Doctor was a person but ruled that he was an artist with the right to control his work.