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A Danish man has been found guilty of uploading nude scenes from copyrighted films and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

According to a police document obtained by media outlets, the anonymous individual shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish police confirm he has been given a seven-month deferred sentence for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been found guilty of distributing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

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

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

According to the Danish copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to ask for clips of particular actors.

In last year, campaigners filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and production companies, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose explicit content were shared in the community, explained to Danish broadcasters at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing naked in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts constituted "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations recently.

In a statement following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "significant" signal "indicating infringements of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in the country for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's work cannot be utilized in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

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

How the ruling could influence other countries is uncertain.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be compromised much more easily".