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A Danish man has been convicted of uploading nude scenes from protected movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed individual posted 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

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

Experts say the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's intellectual property legislation, with the judge finding that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted digital content.

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

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

According to the Danish copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to ask for clips of particular actors.

In 2023, advocates reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit scenes were circulated in the group, told local broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between appearing naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads amounted to "abuse".

'An important message'

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

In a comment after the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "significant" signal "that infringements of creators' entitlements has repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a way which violates their reputation.

Copyright law specialist a legal scholar informed BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

How the case could affect other countries is unclear.

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