🔗 Share this article

A Denmark-based citizen has been convicted of uploading nude segments from copyrighted movies and television shows on the social media platform Reddit.

Based on a police document reviewed by media outlets, the unnamed man posted 347 video excerpts of nude content in a Reddit group he moderated, which were then watched 4.2 million-plus times.

The country's police state he has been handed a seven-month deferred jail term for copyright infringement.

Experts explain the man was charged under a seldom-invoked provision in Danish copyright law, with the judge ruling that by removing the scenes out of their original context, the accused had damaged the artists' "ethical entitlements".

He has additionally been convicted of distributing more than 25 TB of copyrighted digital content.

From spring 2022 to May 2023, the man known as "KlammereFyr" on Reddit uploaded sexually explicit scenes including over 100 actresses.

He shared them in the forum he was a moderator of.

Per the Denmark's copyright protection group The Rights Alliance (TRA), his subreddit had more than 6,000 subscribers and participants were encouraged to request excerpts of specific performers.

In last year, advocates reported the incident to the authorities on behalf of the impacted artists, directors and producers, which led to the forum being closed down.

One actress, one of the performers whose explicit content were circulated in the community, told Danish media at the period she felt there was a difference between being seen naked in a film and being shown on Reddit.

The performer said the uploads constituted "abuse".

'An important message'

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

In a statement following the ruling, TRA head the organization's leader said the outcome sent an "significant" message "indicating infringements of creators' rights has consequences".

The ruling is viewed as unique in the country for its use of the "moral rights" clause of the national copyright law, which specifies an creator's creation cannot be utilized in a way which violates their reputation.

Intellectual property specialist Dr Alina Trapova informed the media the case was "unusual" for its emphasis on the harm to the dignity of an performer, rather than to them economically.

How the ruling could influence nations abroad is uncertain.

But she said there may be "an increasing number of these actions" in the coming years with the growth of AI, where "the integrity of an individual's work might be tempered with much more easily".