The Oscars are owned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a member-run nonprofit corporation that controls the ceremony, the broadcast rights, the statuette’s design, and the trademarked names attached to all of it. No individual, studio, or shareholder holds a stake. Even the gold trophies handed to winners stay tied to the Academy through a contract that lets it buy them back for a dollar.
What Kind of Organization the Academy Is
The Academy is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit under the Internal Revenue Code, the classification used for business leagues and professional organizations that exist to advance an industry rather than return profits to owners.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 501 – Exemption From Tax on Corporations, Certain Trusts, Etc. There is no stock to buy. Net earnings go back into programs and operations.
Because the Academy is tax-exempt, it files a Form 990 with the IRS each year, and those returns are open to public inspection for three years after filing.2Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organization Returns and Applications – Public Disclosure Overview Anyone curious about revenue, executive pay, or spending can look.
Who Actually Runs It
Governance sits with a Board of Governors drawn from the Academy’s professional branches. For the 2026–2027 board year, there are 19 branches covering different crafts: directing, acting, cinematography, editing, and so on. Each branch elects three governors. That structure keeps control inside the working film community rather than with any outside investor or corporate parent.
Membership itself is by invitation. A candidate needs two existing members in the relevant branch to sponsor them, and the application moves through branch committees before the Board of Governors makes the final call. Anyone nominated for an Academy Award is automatically considered without needing sponsors.3Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy Membership The voting membership has grown to roughly 10,000 people, all with a working background in theatrical film production.
What the Academy Owns
Ownership here is mostly intellectual property. The gold knight on a reel of film is protected as both a copyrighted design and a federally registered trademark.4Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Oscar Statuette The Academy first registered the copyright in 1941. A federal district court invalidated that registration in 1989, finding that 158 unprotected statuettes had been distributed between 1929 and 1941 before the design was registered. In 1991, the Ninth Circuit sided with the Academy on trademark grounds, describing the statuette as a “distinctive symbol of outstanding achievement in film” entitled to strong protection.
Third-party manufacturers cast the trophies under contract and acquire no rights in the design.5Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Regulations Unauthorized replicas can draw trademark infringement claims, and willful copyright infringement can bring statutory damages up to $150,000 per violation.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits
The Academy also holds federal word-mark registrations for “Oscar,” “Oscars,” “Academy Award,” “Academy Awards,” “Oscar Night,” and “A.M.P.A.S.,” along with the Oscar design mark.5Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Regulations Those registrations stop other businesses from using the names to imply an official tie to the ceremony.
Why Winners Can’t Freely Sell Their Trophies
By accepting the award, every winner agrees to a resale restriction. The Academy’s regulations say a recipient “shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00.” Winners, the regulations add, “have no rights whatsoever in the Academy copyright or goodwill in the Oscar statuette.”5Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Regulations
The restriction follows the trophy. If a winner dies and a family member inherits the statuette, the heir takes it subject to the same $1 buyback obligation.5Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Regulations The Academy watches auction houses and online listings and has gone to court to enforce the rule. In 2014, it sued the heirs of art director Joseph Wright after his 1942 statuette sold at auction for $79,200.
Oscars That Predate the Rule
The buyback agreement came in decades after the first ceremony, and trophies awarded before it was adopted are not covered. Those earlier statuettes can be sold on the open market, and some have gone for serious money. Michael Jackson paid $1.5 million in 1999 for David O. Selznick’s Best Picture Oscar for Gone With the Wind. A Best Picture statuette for 1947’s Gentleman’s Agreement sold for $492,000, and the one for 1935’s Mutiny on the Bounty went for $240,000. The sales are legal because the winners never signed the restriction. It didn’t yet exist.
What Studios, Journalists, and Others Can Do With the Names
Studios can mention their nominations and wins in advertising, but the rules are tight. The statuette image may appear only once per ad and can take up no more than 10 percent of the ad space. The Academy must approve the quality of the depiction, the notice “©A.M.P.A.S.®” has to appear legibly, and the specific achievement must be identified. “Oscar” and “Oscars” cannot be used in the title of any film not produced by the Academy, and using “Academy Award” in a film title requires written consent.5Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Regulations
Reporters and critics can refer to the Oscars by name without asking permission. That falls under nominative fair use, a trademark doctrine federal courts recognize: you use the name only as far as needed to identify what you’re discussing, and you avoid suggesting the Academy sponsors or endorses your coverage. The Academy’s regulations acknowledge the carve-out, noting that permission is not required for “fair use hard-news reporting.”5Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Regulations Anything past straightforward reporting, including promotional materials, event branding, and merchandise, needs written Academy approval.