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A Danish citizen has been convicted of uploading sexually explicit segments from copyrighted movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document obtained by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.

Danish police state he has been handed a 7-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts say the defendant was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the footage out of their intended setting, the man had harmed the performers' "moral rights".

He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted data.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user using the alias "KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 actresses.

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

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

In last year, advocates filed the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose explicit content were shared in the group, told Danish media at the period she believed there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads constituted "abuse".

'An important message'

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

In a statement after the ruling, TRA head Maria Fredenslund remarked the decision sent an "significant" signal "indicating infringements of artists' rights have repercussions".

The ruling is considered unprecedented in the country for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

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

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