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A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police report obtained by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 video excerpts of explicit content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's police state he has been given a 7-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts explain the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted digital content.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips including over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to ask for excerpts of specific actors.

In last year, campaigners reported the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose explicit content were shared in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a difference between being seen naked in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the posts constituted "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The man was detained in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the charges recently.

In a statement following the ruling, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "indicating violations of creators' entitlements have consequences".

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

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be compromised with greater ease".