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A Danish man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

According to a police document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man posted 347 video excerpts of nude content in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.

Danish police confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended jail term for violating copyright laws.

Experts say the man was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish copyright law, with the judge finding that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted data.

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

He shared them in the subreddit he was a moderator 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 clips of particular performers.

In 2023, advocates reported the incident to the police on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose nude scenes were shared in the community, told Danish media at the period she believed there was a distinction between being seen naked in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts constituted "exploitation".

'A significant message'

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

In a comment after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "important" message "indicating violations of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

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

Copyright law expert a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's creative output might be tempered with with greater ease".