Danish national individual receives deferred prison term for distributing explicit movie clips on the social platform Reddit
A Denmark-based man has been found guilty of uploading sexually explicit scenes from copyrighted films and TV series on the online platform Reddit.
According to a law enforcement report reviewed by BBC News, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million times.
Danish authorities state he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for violating copyright laws.
Experts say the defendant was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Denmark's copyright law, with the court finding that by removing the scenes out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the performers' "ethical entitlements".
He has additionally been found guilty of sharing more than 25 terabytes of protected digital content.
From spring 2022 to May 2023, the user using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit clips including over 100 female performers.
He distributed them in the forum he was a administrator of.
According to the Danish anti-piracy organization the Rights Alliance, his subreddit had more than 6,000 members and users were prompted to request excerpts of specific actors.
In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the affected actors, filmmakers and production companies, which led to the forum being shut down.
One actress, among the actresses whose nude content were shared in the group, explained to local media at the period she felt there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a movie and being shown on Reddit.
The performer stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".
'A significant signal'
The defendant was detained in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the charges last month.
In a statement following the verdict, the head of the Rights Alliance Maria Fredenslund said the outcome sent an "important" message "indicating violations of artists' entitlements has consequences".
The verdict is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the Danish Copyright Act, which states an creator's creation cannot be used in a way which violates their reputation.
Copyright law specialist a legal scholar informed BBC News the legal matter was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an artist, rather than to them economically.
How the case could influence other countries is uncertain.
But she said there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with with greater ease".
