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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 social media platform Reddit.

According to a police report obtained by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 video excerpts of explicit content in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish authorities state he has been given a 7-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the footage out of their original context, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

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

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

He shared them in the subreddit he was a moderator of.

Per the Danish copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to ask for excerpts of specific performers.

In 2023, campaigners filed the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted actors, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose explicit scenes were circulated in the community, explained to Danish media at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the posts amounted to "abuse".

'An important signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations recently.

In a statement following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "significant" message "that infringements of creators' entitlements have consequences".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in the country for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

The extent to which the case could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the sanctity of one's work might be compromised with greater ease".