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A Danish citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted films and TV series on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police report reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of explicit scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish police confirm he has been handed a 7-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the man had harmed the performers' "moral rights".

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

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Denmark's anti-piracy group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were encouraged to request clips of specific actors.

In last year, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which led to the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose explicit content were circulated in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'An important signal'

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

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

The verdict is considered unprecedented in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's work cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the case could influence other countries is unclear.

But she added there may be "more and more of these actions" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of one's work might be tempered with with greater ease".