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A Danish man has been convicted of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected movies and TV series on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police report reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

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

Legal analysts say the man was charged under a rarely-used clause in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has also been found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected data.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

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

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

In last year, campaigners reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the group, told local broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between being seen unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.

In a statement after the verdict, TRA head Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "important" message "indicating infringements of creators' entitlements have consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unique in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.

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

How the ruling could affect other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".