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A Denmark-based man has been convicted of uploading nude segments from copyrighted films and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

According to a police document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's police confirm he has been handed a seven-month deferred sentence for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the accused had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

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

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

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

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

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

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose nude content were circulated in the community, explained to Danish media at the period she believed there was a difference between appearing naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the uploads constituted "abuse".

'A significant message'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations last month.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the decision sent an "important" signal "that violations of creators' entitlements has consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be used in a way which infringes upon their standing.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told the media the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could influence other countries is uncertain.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of an individual's creative output might be compromised much more easily".