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A Denmark-based citizen has been convicted of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had harmed the performers' "moral rights".

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

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

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were encouraged to ask for clips of specific performers.

In 2023, advocates filed the case to the police on behalf of the impacted artists, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

One actress, among the performers whose nude scenes were shared in the community, told local media at the period she felt there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

The man was arrested in fall 2024 and admitted culpable to the charges recently.

In a statement after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "significant" signal "that infringements of creators' rights have repercussions".

The verdict is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could influence other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "more and more of these actions" in the coming years with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of an individual's creative output might be compromised much more easily".