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A Danish man has been found guilty of sharing nude segments from protected films and television shows on the online site Reddit.

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

The country's police confirm he has been given a seven-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the court finding that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the man had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

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

From March 2022 to May 2023, the user known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips featuring over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to ask for excerpts of specific performers.

In 2023, campaigners reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, directors and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose nude content were shared in the group, explained to local media at the period she believed there was a distinction between being seen naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

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

In a comment following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "indicating infringements of artists' entitlements have consequences".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in the country for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their standing.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar told the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the harm 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 added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's creative output might be tempered with with greater ease".