🔗 Share this article

A Denmark-based man has been convicted of uploading nude scenes from protected films and television shows on the online site Reddit.

According to a police document obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of explicit scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

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

Legal analysts explain the man was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the judge ruling that by taking the footage out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of protected data.

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

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were encouraged to ask for excerpts of particular performers.

In last year, campaigners reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, filmmakers and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose explicit content were shared in the group, told local media at the time she believed there was a difference between being seen naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The actress stated the posts constituted "abuse".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations last month.

In a statement after the ruling, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "significant" signal "indicating infringements of artists' entitlements have consequences".

The verdict is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's work cannot be utilized in a way which violates their standing.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed the media the case was "unusual" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

The extent to which the ruling could affect other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of an individual's work might be compromised with greater ease".