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A Danish man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from protected movies and TV series on the online site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document obtained by media outlets, the unnamed man posted 347 clips of nude scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

Danish police state he has been given a seven-month suspended jail term for violating copyright laws.

Legal analysts say the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to request clips of specific actors.

In 2023, advocates reported the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

One actress, among the performers whose nude scenes were shared in the group, explained to Danish media at the period she believed there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and admitted culpable to the allegations recently.

In a statement after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "important" message "that infringements of artists' rights have consequences".

The verdict is considered unique in Denmark for its application of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the case was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she said 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 compromised much more easily".