Ouch. Are photographer's rights are being eroded even further?

Looks like Carol Highsmith lost her case.
http://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2016/11/court-dismisses-1-billion-copyright-claim-getty.html

I am not following the case, but it seems to me that it is not that bad.
My understanding is that the judge dismissed the case AFTER both parties agreed to settle.

She donated the images to the library of congress, Getty claims that is public domain and therefore one can't make copyright claims against public domain even if your still breathing. The court agreed. The State based consumer fraud claims were settled subsequently. Well ok lets all get rich off the public domain. They cited publishers selling Shakespeare and the like as comparable to this case.

According to the article she had voluntarily released her copyright claims much earlier making these public domain images.
Also the article states that this was NOT a copyright case.
I can understand being upset that images that were given to the public were resold at a profit by others, however.