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A Danish man has been convicted of sharing sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted movies and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

According to a police report obtained by media outlets, the anonymous individual shared 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities state he has been handed a 7-month suspended jail term for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used clause in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court finding that by taking the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

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

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

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to request clips of particular performers.

In last year, campaigners reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and production companies, which led to the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude content were shared in the community, explained to Danish media at the period she believed there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the posts amounted to "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and admitted culpable to the charges last month.

In a statement after the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "significant" signal "that infringements of artists' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an creator's work cannot be utilized in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

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

But she said there may be "more and more of these actions" in the coming years with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be compromised much more easily".