🔗 Share this article

A Denmark-based man has been convicted of uploading nude scenes from protected films and TV series on the online site Reddit.

Based on a police report obtained by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of nude content in a Reddit group he managed, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

Danish police state he has been given a 7-month suspended sentence for copyright infringement.

Experts say the man was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by taking the scenes out of their intended setting, the man had damaged the artists' "moral rights".

He has additionally been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted data.

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

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

Per the Danish anti-piracy group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his online community had more than 6,000 members and participants were encouraged to ask for clips of particular performers.

In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the police on behalf of the affected artists, directors and producers, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.

Andrea Vagn Jensen, one of the actresses whose explicit content were circulated in the group, explained to Danish media at the period she believed there was a difference between appearing unclothed in a film and appearing on Reddit.

The performer stated the uploads constituted "exploitation".

'An important signal'

The defendant was arrested in September 2024 and admitted guilty to the allegations last month.

In a comment following the verdict, TRA head Maria Fredenslund said the decision sent an "significant" message "that infringements of artists' rights has consequences".

The verdict is considered unique in Denmark for its application of the "moral rights" section of the Danish Copyright Act, which specifies an artist's creation cannot be utilized in a way which infringes upon their reputation.

Intellectual property expert Dr Alina Trapova told the media the legal matter was "rare" for its emphasis on the damage to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could affect nations abroad is unclear.

But she added there may be "an increasing number of such cases" in the coming years with the advancement of artificial intelligence, where "the sanctity of one's creative output might be compromised with greater ease".