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A Denmark-based citizen has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report obtained by media outlets, the anonymous individual shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

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

Experts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used clause in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the judge finding that by taking the footage out of their original context, the man 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 known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips including over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Danish anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were encouraged to ask for clips of particular performers.

In 2023, campaigners reported the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted artists, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

One actress, one of the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the community, told local broadcasters at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The performer stated the posts constituted "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges recently.

In a statement following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "significant" signal "that infringements of artists' entitlements has consequences".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which states an creator's work cannot be utilized in a manner which infringes upon their standing.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the case could affect other countries is uncertain.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with much more easily".