Is the museum supposed to have such a monopoly? Because then the ruling would be disappointing but ultimately not incoherent.
What's the law like on photographs? Those are effectively equivalent are they not? Or does the entire argument hinge on the fact that point clouds can be stored in a human readable format?
TFA discusses this in depth—and that the end ruling (according to the article) was haphazard, inconsistent, and indefensible.