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A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted films and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous individual shared 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

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

Experts explain the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by taking the footage out of their original context, the man had harmed the artists' "ethical entitlements".

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

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

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

Per the Danish copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to ask for excerpts of specific actors.

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

One actress, among the performers whose explicit scenes were shared in the group, told local media at the time she felt there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads constituted "abuse".

'An important signal'

The man was detained in September 2024 and admitted culpable to the allegations last month.

In a statement following the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "important" signal "indicating infringements of creators' rights have consequences".

The ruling is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be utilized in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar told BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could affect nations abroad is unclear.

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