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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of uploading nude segments from protected movies and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed individual shared 347 clips of explicit content in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's police confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts say the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of protected digital content.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes including over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were prompted to request clips of particular actors.

In last year, campaigners filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose explicit content were shared in the group, told Danish broadcasters at the period she believed there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations recently.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund remarked the decision sent an "important" signal "indicating violations of creators' rights has consequences".

The ruling is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which states an artist's work cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova told the media the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

How the case could influence other countries 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 sanctity of one's creative output might be compromised with greater ease".