Danish national individual given suspended prison term for posting nude movie scenes on the social platform Reddit
A Danish man has been found guilty of sharing sexually explicit scenes from protected films and television shows on the online platform Reddit.
Based on a law enforcement report reviewed by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of explicit scenes in a subreddit he managed, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.
The country's police confirm he has been handed a seven-month suspended jail term for violating copyright laws.
Experts say the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish intellectual property legislation, with the judge finding that by removing the footage out of their original context, the man had harmed the performers' "moral rights".
He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.
From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted sexually explicit clips featuring over 100 female performers.
He distributed them in the forum he was a moderator of.
According to the Denmark's anti-piracy organization the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were prompted to ask for excerpts of particular actors.
In last year, advocates reported the incident to the police on behalf of the impacted actors, directors and production companies, which led to the forum being shut down.
Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose explicit content were shared in the community, explained to Danish media at the time she believed there was a distinction between appearing unclothed in a movie and appearing on Reddit.
The actress said the uploads amounted to "abuse".
'An important signal'
The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the charges recently.
In a comment after the verdict, TRA head the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "significant" message "indicating infringements of artists' entitlements has consequences".
The ruling is considered unprecedented in the country for its use of the "moral rights" section of the national copyright law, which states an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their standing.
Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told BBC News the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the damage to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.
How the case could influence nations abroad is uncertain.
But she added there may be "more and more of these actions" in the future with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of one's work might be tempered with much more easily".
