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A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted films and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a police report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed individual shared 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

Danish police state he has been handed a 7-month suspended jail term for copyright infringement.

Experts say the man was charged under a rarely-used clause in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the man had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

He shared them in the subreddit he was a administrator of.

According to the Denmark's anti-piracy group the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were prompted to ask for clips of specific actors.

In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and production companies, which led to the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude content were shared in the community, told Danish broadcasters at the period she believed there was a difference between being seen naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress said the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

In a comment following the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader said the decision sent an "important" signal "that infringements of artists' rights has consequences".

The ruling is considered unique in Denmark for its application of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar told the media the case was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the ruling could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be tempered with much more easily".