Danish national individual given deferred sentence for distributing explicit film scenes on Reddit
A Danish man has been convicted of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.
According to a police document reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous man shared 347 clips of explicit content in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.
The country's police state he has been given a 7-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.
Legal analysts say the man was prosecuted under a rarely-used clause in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the judge ruling that by taking the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".
He has also been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.
From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult scenes featuring over 100 actresses.
He distributed them in the subreddit he was a moderator of.
Per the Denmark's copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were encouraged to request clips of particular actors.
In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and production companies, which led to the subreddit being shut down.
Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a distinction between appearing naked in a movie and appearing on Reddit.
The actress said the posts constituted "exploitation".
'An important signal'
The defendant was detained in September 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations recently.
In a statement following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "important" signal "that violations of artists' rights has repercussions".
The verdict is considered unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which states an artist's work cannot be utilized in a way which infringes upon their reputation.
Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova told the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them financially.
The extent to which the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.
But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of one's work might be tempered with much more easily".