Danish national individual receives deferred prison term for posting nude film clips on the social platform Reddit
A Danish citizen has been convicted of sharing nude segments from copyrighted movies and TV series on the social media site Reddit.
Based on a law enforcement document reviewed by BBC News, the unnamed man posted 347 clips of nude scenes in a subreddit he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.
The country's police confirm he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.
Experts say the defendant was charged under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the judge finding that by taking the footage out of their original context, the accused had damaged the performers' "moral rights".
He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.
From spring 2022 to May 2023, the man known as "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes including over 100 actresses.
He distributed them in the forum he was a moderator of.
Per the Denmark's anti-piracy organization The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were prompted to request excerpts of particular performers.
In 2023, advocates filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and production companies, which led to the forum being closed down.
Andrea Vagn Jensen, among the actresses whose explicit scenes were circulated in the community, told local broadcasters at the time she believed there was a difference between being seen naked in a movie and being shown on Reddit.
The actress stated the uploads amounted to "abuse".
'An important signal'
The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations recently.
In a statement after the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "important" signal "that infringements of artists' rights has repercussions".
The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its use of the "ethical protections" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an creator's work cannot be used in a manner which infringes upon their reputation.
Copyright law specialist Dr Alina Trapova told the media the case was "rare" for its focus on the damage to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.
How the ruling could affect other countries is uncertain.
But she said there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of one's creative output might be compromised with greater ease".
