Academy to appeal sale ruling
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it will appeal a federal court ruling that clears the way for Orson Welles’ daughter to sell the Oscar he won for co-writing “Citizen Kane.”
In a ruling made public this week, U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson said the statuette belonged to Beatrice Welles and “she may dispose of [it] however she sees fit.”
The dispute centered on a right-of-first-refusal agreement that the academy adopted in 1950, which stipulates that if an award winner or the winner’s heirs ever put an Oscar up for sale, it has to be offered to the academy first for $1.
Welles’ attorney, Steven Ames Brown, said Welles plans to offer the Oscar for auction and use the proceeds for her work to help abused animals.
From Associated Press
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