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A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted films and television shows on the online site Reddit.

Based on a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of nude scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's police confirm he has been given a seven-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts say the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the performers' "moral rights".

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

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit clips including over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Danish copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to request excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, advocates filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, directors and production companies, which led to the forum being shut down.

One actress, one of the actresses whose nude content were shared in the community, explained to Danish media at the time she felt there was a distinction between being seen unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the posts amounted to "abuse".

'A significant message'

The man was detained in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to the allegations recently.

In a statement after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "significant" message "indicating infringements of artists' rights have consequences".

The verdict is considered unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be utilized in a manner which violates their standing.

Copyright law expert a legal scholar told BBC News the case was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the case could influence nations abroad is uncertain.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's creative output might be tempered with much more easily".