Plaintiffs, Denice Shakarian Halicki, Original Gone in 60 Seconds, LLC, and Halicki Films, LLC collectively, the “Plaintiffs” or “Halicki”), appeal from so much of a November 14, 2005 summary judgment of the United States District Court for the Central District of California as granted defendants’ — Unique Motorcars, Inc. and Unique Performance, Inc. (collectively, the “Unique Defendants”); and Carroll Shelby International, Inc., Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc., Carroll Shelby Motors, Inc., Carroll Shelby Distribution, International, Inc., and Carroll Shelby Hall Trust (collectively, the “Shelby Defendants” and collectively with the Unique Defendants, the “Defendants”) — motion for summary judgment dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims for: (1) copyright infringement; (2) common law trademark infringement; (3) federal unfair competition; and (4) declaratory relief. The District Court found that Plaintiffs lacked standing to assert the foregoing claims. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the District Court erred in (1) its refusal to use extrinsic evidence submitted by Plaintiffs to aid in its interpretation of an agreement between the parties, finding that the extrinsic evidence did not show that the agreement was reasonably susceptible to Plaintiffs’ interpretation; (2) its interpretation of disputed language in an agreement between Halicki and a corporation, not a party to this action; (3) its application of the wrong legal standard in concluding that Plaintiffs did not have statutory standing to assert their claims for trademark infringement and unfair competition; and (4) its conclusion that Plaintiffs did not have statutory or Article III standing to assert their claims for declaratory relief. We therefore vacate the District Court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing Plaintiffs’ copyright, common law trademark infringement, unfair competition, and declaratory relief claims and remand the case for further proceedings.
The Shelby Defendants appeal from the District Court’s denial of their motion for attorneys’ fees under both the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 505, and the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a). Because none of Halicki’s claims are frivolous or unreasonable, we affirm the District Court’s conclusion that the Shelby Defendants are not entitled to attorneys’ fees.
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