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

According to a police document reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous man shared 347 video excerpts of nude scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

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

Experts say the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court ruling that by taking the footage out of their original context, the man had harmed the artists' "moral rights".

He has also been found guilty of sharing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.

From March 2022 to May 2023, the user known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult scenes including over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Denmark's 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 specific performers.

In last year, advocates reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, directors and producers, which resulted in the forum being closed down.

One actress, one of the performers whose nude scenes were circulated in the group, explained to local broadcasters at the time she believed there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer stated the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

The man was arrested in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations last month.

In a statement following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "important" message "indicating infringements of artists' rights has consequences".

The ruling is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be used in a way which violates their standing.

Intellectual property expert a legal scholar told BBC News the case was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the case could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the sanctity of one's work might be tempered with with greater ease".