🔗 Share this article

A Danish citizen has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit segments from protected films and television shows on the online platform Reddit.

According to a law enforcement document reviewed by media outlets, the unnamed man posted 347 clips of nude scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million times.

Danish police state he has been handed a seven-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Legal analysts explain the defendant was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish copyright law, with the court 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 data.

From March 2022 to mid-2023, the user known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit clips featuring over 100 actresses.

He shared them in the subreddit he was a moderator of.

Per the Denmark's copyright protection group the Rights Alliance, his online community had more than 6,000 subscribers and users were prompted to request excerpts of particular performers.

In 2023, campaigners reported the incident to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and production companies, which resulted in the forum being shut down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the performers whose nude scenes were circulated in the group, explained to local broadcasters at the time she felt there was a distinction between being seen naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The actress said the uploads constituted "abuse".

'A significant message'

The man was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations recently.

In a statement after the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "significant" message "indicating infringements of artists' rights has consequences".

The verdict is considered unique in the country for its application of the "moral rights" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an creator's creation cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.

Intellectual property expert a legal scholar told the media the legal matter was "rare" for its focus on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.

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

But she added there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the sanctity of one's creative output might be compromised much more easily".