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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and TV series on the online platform Reddit.

According to a police document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of explicit scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

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

Experts say the man was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the judge finding that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the man had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the man using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult scenes featuring over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to ask for excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, campaigners reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose nude content were circulated in the group, told local broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between appearing naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer said the posts constituted "exploitation".

'An important message'

The defendant was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations recently.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "important" signal "indicating violations of artists' entitlements has repercussions".

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

Intellectual property expert a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

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

But she added there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be compromised with greater ease".