The Oscars (the Academy Awards ceremony and brand) are owned and controlled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a nonprofit organization based in the United States.

Who “owns” the Oscars?

  • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) creates, oversees, and legally controls the Oscars ceremony and the Oscar statuette.
  • AMPAS owns the copyright, trademarks, and service marks for terms like “Oscar,” “Oscars,” and the statuette design itself.
  • The awards show is produced by the Academy, while U.S. broadcast rights are licensed to ABC (a Disney-owned network) under a long-term deal, but ABC does not own the Oscars themselves.

Who owns the Oscar statuette?

  • Before 1950, Oscar winners fully owned their statuettes and could sell them freely; those older statuettes can and have been sold at auction.
  • Since 1950, winners must agree that if they ever want to sell or dispose of their statuette, they must first offer it back to the Academy for 1 dollar.
  • If a winner refuses those terms, the Academy keeps the statuette, which effectively gives AMPAS tight control over how Oscars circulate.

Quick fact table (ownership at a glance)

Item Who “owns” it? Key detail
Oscars brand & name Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Holds copyright, trademarks, and service marks for “Oscar” and the statuette.
Oscar ceremony Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Plans and produces the event, licenses TV rights to ABC and others.
Modern statuettes (post‑1950) Winner possesses it, Academy controls resale Winner must offer it back to the Academy for $1 before any sale.
Pre‑1950 statuettes Recipients or later buyers Not bound by the $1 resale rule and can be sold at auction.
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Quick Scoop: why this matters now

Discussions about “who owns the Oscars” often pop up around:

  1. High‑profile auctions of early (pre‑1950) statuettes that can legally be sold for large sums.
  1. Ongoing debates about how tightly AMPAS protects the Oscar image, name, and resale rules in the modern era.

So when people ask “who owns the Oscars?” , the clear answer is: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences legally owns and controls the Oscars brand and statuette , while winners mostly only own the physical object under strict resale rules.

Meta description:
Wondering who owns the Oscars? Learn how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences controls the Oscars brand, ceremony, and statuettes, and what “ownership” means for winners.

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