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A Danish man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected movies and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement document reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous man posted 347 video excerpts of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's police state he has been given a 7-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the performers' "moral rights".

He has additionally been found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult scenes including over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to request excerpts of particular performers.

In last year, campaigners reported the incident to the police on behalf of the affected actors, directors and production companies, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

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

The performer stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The defendant was arrested in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the charges recently.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "significant" message "that infringements of artists' rights have repercussions".

The verdict is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the case was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the case could influence other countries is unclear.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the coming years with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".