Danish man receives deferred prison term for distributing explicit movie scenes on Reddit
A Danish man has been found guilty of sharing nude scenes from copyrighted films and television shows on the social media site Reddit.
According to a law enforcement report obtained by media outlets, the anonymous individual posted 347 clips of explicit scenes in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then viewed 4.2 million-plus times.
The country's authorities confirm he has been given a 7-month suspended jail term for violating copyright laws.
Experts explain the man was prosecuted under a seldom-invoked clause in Danish copyright law, with the court ruling that by removing the footage out of their intended setting, the accused had damaged the artists' "moral rights".
He has also been found guilty of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted data.
From March 2022 to mid-2023, the man using the alias "the pseudonym KlammereFyr" on Reddit posted adult scenes including over 100 female performers.
He shared them in the forum 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 users were prompted to ask for excerpts of particular actors.
In 2023, campaigners filed the case to the authorities on behalf of the impacted artists, directors and production companies, which resulted in the subreddit being closed down.
One actress, one of the actresses whose nude scenes were circulated in the group, explained to Danish broadcasters at the period she believed there was a distinction between being seen naked in a film and appearing on Reddit.
The performer stated the uploads amounted to "exploitation".
'A significant signal'
The defendant was arrested in fall 2024 and pleaded culpable to the allegations last month.
In a comment after the verdict, TRA head Maria Fredenslund remarked the outcome sent an "important" signal "indicating infringements of artists' rights have repercussions".
The ruling is viewed as unprecedented in Denmark for its application of the "ethical protections" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an artist's work cannot be used in a manner which violates their reputation.
Copyright law expert a legal scholar informed BBC News the case was "rare" for its emphasis on the harm to the integrity of an performer, rather than to them financially.
How the ruling could affect other countries is uncertain.
But she said there may be "more and more 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".
