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A Danish citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit segments from copyrighted films and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

According to a police document reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish police state he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by taking the footage out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted data.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit clips including over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Danish copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were encouraged to request clips of particular performers.

In 2023, campaigners filed the incident to the police on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude content were shared in the group, told local media at the period she believed there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

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

In a statement following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "important" signal "indicating violations of creators' rights have repercussions".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be used in a way which violates their standing.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar informed the media the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

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

But she added there may be "more and more of these actions" in the coming years with the advancement of AI, where "the sanctity of one's creative output might be compromised with greater ease".