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A Danish man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and TV series on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 video excerpts of explicit content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.

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

Legal analysts say the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of protected data.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to ask for excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, advocates filed the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted artists, filmmakers and production companies, which led to the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose nude content were shared in the community, told local media at the time she felt there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The performer stated the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'An important signal'

The defendant was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

In a comment after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the decision sent an "significant" message "that infringements of artists' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in the country for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be used in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

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

But she added there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the coming years with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of one's work might be tempered with with greater ease".