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A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected movies and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

Based on a police report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of explicit content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities confirm he has been handed a seven-month deferred sentence for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts explain the man was charged under a rarely-used clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".

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

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit clips including over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were prompted to request clips of particular performers.

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

One actress, one of the performers whose explicit scenes were shared in the community, explained to local media at the time she believed there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations recently.

In a statement following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" message "that violations of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its application 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 standing.

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

How the ruling could influence other countries is uncertain.

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