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A Danish man has been convicted of sharing nude segments from protected movies and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

Based on a police report reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish authorities state he has been handed a 7-month suspended jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the court finding that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the performers' "moral rights".

He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected data.

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

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to request clips of specific performers.

In last year, campaigners filed the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude scenes were shared in the group, explained to Danish media at the time she believed there was a difference between being seen naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'An important message'

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 "important" message "that infringements of artists' entitlements has consequences".

The verdict is considered unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be used in a manner which violates their standing.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar told BBC News the case was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could influence other countries is uncertain.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".