Danish national man receives suspended prison term for distributing explicit film scenes on the social platform Reddit

A Danish citizen has been found guilty of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted movies and TV series on the online site Reddit.

According to a law enforcement report obtained by BBC News, the anonymous man posted 347 video excerpts of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

Danish authorities state he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the defendant was charged under a rarely-used provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by taking the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the artists' "ethical entitlements".

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

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the user known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 female performers.

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

Per the Denmark's copyright protection organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were encouraged to request excerpts of particular actors.

In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

One actress, among the actresses whose explicit scenes were shared in the community, explained to Danish media at the time she felt there was a difference between appearing naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer said the posts constituted "abuse".

'An important message'

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

In a statement following the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "important" message "that infringements of creators' entitlements have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unique in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their standing.

Intellectual property specialist a legal scholar told BBC News the case 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 affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of one's work might be compromised much more easily".