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A Danish man has been convicted of uploading nude scenes from protected movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

According to a police report reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

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

Legal analysts say the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the accused had harmed the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has also been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of protected data.

From March 2022 to May 2023, the user using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult clips featuring over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Danish anti-piracy organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to request excerpts of particular performers.

In 2023, campaigners filed the incident to the police on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the performers whose nude scenes were circulated in the community, explained to local media at the time she believed there was a difference between appearing naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the posts constituted "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges recently.

In a comment following the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "that violations of artists' rights has consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unique in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be utilized in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar informed BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the case could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised much more easily".