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A Danish citizen has been found guilty of sharing nude scenes from protected movies and TV series on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police document obtained by BBC News, the unnamed individual shared 347 clips of explicit scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's police state he has been given a seven-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the performers' "moral rights".

He has also been found guilty of distributing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

From March 2022 to May 2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips including over 100 female performers.

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

According to the Denmark's anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to request excerpts of specific performers.

In 2023, advocates reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which resulted in the forum being closed down.

One actress, among the actresses whose explicit scenes were shared in the community, explained to Danish broadcasters at the time she felt there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

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

In a statement following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the decision sent an "significant" message "indicating violations of artists' rights have consequences".

The ruling is considered unique in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which states an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a manner which violates their standing.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the case could influence nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the growth of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised much more easily".