🔗 Share this article

A Danish man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected movies and television shows on the online site Reddit.

According to a police document reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous man posted 347 video excerpts of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

The country's police state he has been given a 7-month deferred sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Denmark's copyright law, with the court ruling that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.

From spring 2022 to mid-2023, the user known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit scenes featuring over 100 actresses.

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

Per the Danish copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to ask for excerpts of particular actors.

In last year, campaigners reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the affected artists, filmmakers and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being shut down.

One actress, one of the performers whose explicit content were shared in the community, explained to local broadcasters at the period she believed there was a distinction between being seen unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'A significant signal'

The defendant was detained in September 2024 and pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

In a statement after the ruling, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund remarked the decision sent an "important" signal "indicating infringements of creators' entitlements has consequences".

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

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them financially.

The extent to which the case could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she said there may be "more and more of such cases" in the coming years with the advancement of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".