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A Danish man has been convicted of sharing sexually explicit segments from protected movies and TV series on the online site Reddit.

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

The country's police state he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.

Experts explain the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court finding that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had harmed the performers' "ethical entitlements".

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

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

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

According to the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to request excerpts of specific performers.

In 2023, campaigners reported the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and production companies, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit scenes were shared in the group, explained to Danish broadcasters at the time she felt there was a difference between being seen unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.

The performer said the posts amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The man was detained in September 2024 and admitted culpable to the charges last month.

In a comment after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader remarked the decision sent an "significant" message "that infringements of creators' rights have repercussions".

The ruling is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an artist's creation cannot be used in a way which infringes upon their standing.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the case was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

The extent to which the case could influence other countries is unclear.

But she said there may be "more and more of such cases" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the integrity of one's creative output might be compromised much more easily".