TFA explicitly addresses that was the question under consideration: > In his ruling (THJ v Sheridan, 2023), Lord Justice Arnold wrote that, for copyright to ar

TFA explicitly addresses that was the question under consideration: > In his ruling (THJ v Sheridan, 2023), Lord Justice Arnold wrote that, for copyright to arise: “What is required is that the author was able to express their creative abilities in the production of the work by making free and creative choices so as to stamp the work created with their personal touch”. Importantly, he went on: “This criterion is not satisfied where the content of the work is dictated by technical considerations, rules or other constraints which leave no room for creative freedom”. In other words, if the aim of a museum photograph is to accurately reproduce a painting (which it must be), then it cannot acquire copyright. I.e. these museums were selling pictures of artworks that by definition needed to adhere to a true reproduction of the original as closely as possible. It wasn't a question of taking a picture of an out-of-copyright painting and applying some level of skill/artistic license to transform the original in some way.