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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted films and TV series on the online site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document obtained by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of nude content 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 jail term for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish copyright law, with the court finding that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the man had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been convicted of sharing more than 25 TB of protected data.

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes including over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to request clips of specific actors.

In last year, campaigners reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, directors and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit scenes were shared in the community, explained to local broadcasters at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts amounted to "abuse".

'An important message'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.

In a comment following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "indicating infringements of artists' entitlements have consequences".

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

Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova informed the media the case was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

How the case could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of one's work might be compromised much more easily".