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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of sharing nude segments from protected movies and TV series on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a police document obtained by media outlets, the anonymous man posted 347 clips of explicit scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's police confirm he has been handed a 7-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts say the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the judge ruling that by taking the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult clips including over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Danish anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were encouraged to request excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and producers, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

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

The performer said the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'An important message'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the charges recently.

In a comment following the ruling, TRA head Maria Fredenslund remarked the outcome sent an "significant" message "that violations of creators' rights has repercussions".

The verdict is considered unique in Denmark for its application of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an creator's work cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova told the media the case was "unusual" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could influence other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be compromised with greater ease".