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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted movies and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish police state he has been given a 7-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts say the man was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of protected digital content.

From March 2022 to May 2023, the user using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Danish copyright protection organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were prompted to request excerpts of specific performers.

In last year, advocates filed the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose nude scenes were shared in the group, told Danish broadcasters at the period she believed there was a distinction between being seen naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations recently.

In a statement after the ruling, TRA head Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "important" signal "that violations of creators' rights has consequences".

The ruling is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar told BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the case could influence other countries is uncertain.

But she said there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of one's work might be tempered with much more easily".