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

Based on a law enforcement document obtained by BBC News, the anonymous individual shared 347 clips of explicit content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's police confirm he has been handed a 7-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Danish copyright law, with the judge finding that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been convicted of distributing more than 25 TB of protected digital content.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips including over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were prompted to ask for excerpts of particular performers.

In 2023, advocates filed the case to the police on behalf of the impacted artists, directors and production companies, which resulted in the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit scenes were circulated in the community, told local media at the period she believed there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'A significant message'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.

In a statement after the verdict, TRA head Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "important" signal "indicating infringements of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar informed the media the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could influence nations abroad is uncertain.

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