🔗 Share this article

A Danish citizen has been convicted of uploading nude scenes from copyrighted movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.

Based on a police report obtained by BBC News, the unnamed man shared 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.

The country's authorities confirm he has been handed a 7-month deferred sentence for violating copyright laws.

Experts say the man was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the man had damaged the performers' "moral rights".

He has additionally been convicted 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 posted adult clips including over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Danish copyright protection organization the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were prompted to request clips of particular actors.

In 2023, advocates reported the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, filmmakers and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.

One actress, one of the actresses whose explicit content were circulated in the community, told local broadcasters at the time she believed there was a distinction between being seen naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".

'An important signal'

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

In a statement following the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "important" message "that infringements of artists' rights have repercussions".

The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "moral rights" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an artist's work cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed BBC News the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them financially.

How the ruling could influence nations abroad is unclear.

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