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A Denmark-based citizen has been convicted of uploading nude segments from copyrighted movies and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.

According to a police report reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed individual shared 347 clips of explicit content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

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

Legal analysts say the man was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the accused had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

He has also been convicted of distributing more than 25 terabytes of copyrighted digital content.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult clips including over 100 actresses.

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were prompted to request clips of specific actors.

In last year, advocates filed the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted actors, filmmakers and producers, which led to the subreddit being shut down.

One actress, among the performers whose nude scenes were shared in the group, told local broadcasters at the period she believed there was a difference between appearing naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'A significant message'

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

In a statement after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "important" message "indicating violations of artists' entitlements has consequences".

The ruling is viewed as unique in the country for its application of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told the media the case was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

The extent to which the case could affect nations abroad is uncertain.

But she added there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the advancement of AI, where "the sanctity of one's creative output might be tempered with much more easily".