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

According to a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the anonymous man posted 347 clips of nude content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

Danish authorities state he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts say the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court finding that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had damaged the performers' "moral rights".

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

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult clips including over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Denmark's anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were encouraged to request clips of specific performers.

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

One actress, one of the actresses whose explicit content were shared in the community, explained to Danish broadcasters at the time she believed there was a distinction between being seen naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The performer said the posts amounted to "abuse".

'An important signal'

The defendant was arrested in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations last month.

In a comment following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "important" message "that violations of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their standing.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised much more easily".