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A Danish citizen has been convicted of sharing sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities confirm he has been handed a 7-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by taking the footage out of their intended setting, the man had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

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

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult clips including over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Denmark's anti-piracy 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 incident to the police on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and production companies, which resulted in the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose nude content were shared in the group, told Danish broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between being seen unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations last month.

In a statement following the ruling, TRA head Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "significant" message "indicating infringements 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 specifies an creator's creation cannot be utilized in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

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

How the case could affect nations abroad is uncertain.

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