A Los Angeles court will today decide the fate of Mary Pickford's 1930 Oscar for best actress following the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' decision to challenge an attempt to sell it.

The body takes a fierce view of any attempts to offer its gongs for purchase, and since 1950 has required recipients to sign an agreement giving it the right to buy back statuettes for $10 (later $1) should they be put on sale. Pickford's Oscar, awarded for her work on 1929's Coquette, predates that agreement, but the Academy says she subsequently signed the document in 1976 upon picking up an honorary award.

The gong is currently "owned" by the estate of Beverly Rogers, second wife of Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who was married to Pickford for 40 years. It wants to sell the statuette and donate the proceeds to charity in accordance with Rogers' will.

The Academy, which is usually successful in its efforts to stop statuettes being sold, says each Oscar is a replica of the original, which it holds the copyright to as an "unpublished" work of art. It therefore asserts its right to challenge sales attempts, believing they devalue its trademark.

"The Oscar should go to the best performer, not the highest bidder," said lawyer David Quinto, who regularly appears for the Academy in legal cases.

The case arrives in court today and will be decided by a jury.