Danish national man given deferred sentence for distributing nude movie clips on the social platform Reddit
A Danish citizen has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit segments from copyrighted films and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.
According to a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 video excerpts of nude content in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.
Danish police confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended sentence for violating copyright laws.
Experts explain the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the court finding that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".
He has also been convicted of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected data.
From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded adult clips including over 100 female performers.
He distributed them in the subreddit he was a moderator of.
Per the Danish anti-piracy group the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were encouraged to request excerpts of particular actors.
In last year, campaigners reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and producers, which led to the forum being shut down.
Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose nude scenes were circulated in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a difference between appearing naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.
The actress stated the posts amounted to "abuse".
'A significant message'
The man was detained in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the charges recently.
In a comment following the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader remarked the outcome sent an "important" message "indicating infringements of creators' entitlements has repercussions".
The ruling is viewed as unique in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.
Copyright law expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its focus on the harm to the dignity of an artist, rather than to them financially.
The extent to which the ruling could influence other countries is unclear.
But she added 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 creative output might be tempered with with greater ease".