Three Oscars: two awarded to Mary Pickford and one to her last husband, Buddy Rogers, are in the news. Rogers' heirs want to sell the Oscars at auction, which horrifies most film buffs. The folks who give out the Oscars say they have a right to buy them back at $10 each.

Pickford's statuettes could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction, so it is understandable that the current owners are not jumping for joy at the Academy's offer.

Gladys Louise Smith--better known as Mary Pickford--won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930. That was only the second time the Awards were handed out, and Pickford won for her role in Coquette-quite a coup for an actress known mainly for silent films.

Pickford was a mover and shaker in early Hollywood--one of the founders of United Artists. She won a second Oscar for a lifetime of work in 1976, three years before she died, at age 87.

Pickford married three times. With her last husband, Buddy Rogers, she adopted two children, Roxanne and Ronald. Apparently, Pickford--already in her 50s--was not a loving mother, and there was little relationship with the children once they grew up.

After Pickford died, Buddy Rogers--who inherited her Oscars and all property--remarried in 1981. He was awarded an Oscar of his own in 1986 for humanitarian work, and died in 1999.

Rogers' property passed to his second wife , and she died in 2007, according to a Los Angeles Times story. It is three heirs of Rogers' second wife, Beverly, who wish to sell the Oscars at auction.

Oscar statuettes since 1950 must be offered back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at $10. each, if the winner or his/her heirs decide they don't want to keep them. Pickford's Lifetime Achievement Oscar, won in 1976, would be covered by this--but the 1930 Oscar would not.

Still, in 1976, Mary Pickford did sign the agreement that says she or her heirs would offer the Oscar back to the Academy before selling it.

Although--it bears mentioning that not everyone agrees with this stipulation, and it has not really been tested in court.

For the record, the Academy has about 150 Oscars that came back through wills or were given to it. Also for the record, some of those pre-1950 Oscars have gone for big bucks. The Best-picture Award for Gone With the Wind was bought at auction by pop star Michael Jackson for $1.54 million.

ON December 28, 200, the parties were ordered by a judge to submit the matter to a mediator. It could still go to trial if mediation fails, but the matter could be settled if the Academy offers a reasonable cash settlement to the heirs.

It's raises interesting questions.

If your auntie married someone with movie-star connections, can you auction off the Hollywood history you might inherit? After all, you didn't earn it. You're not a mover and shaker, an icon, a star.

But many people who inherit wealth have done nothing to earn it. That doesn't matter to the law.

If it were Pickford's children who were haggling over the Oscars, I might feel differently. But in spite of the law, I can't root for a trio of anonymous people who inherited valuable items they don't really appreciate.

December 16, 2008's Los Angeles Times reports that a Superior Court jury determined that the Academy does indeed have the right to buy back Pickford's Oscars for $10. each. The jury deliberated for less than one hour, after a  two-week long trial.

However, the judge will hear further arguments on legal issues not decided by the jury, and the heirs of Buddy Rogers last wife aren't through fighting. They say the money raised at auction would go a charity. The case isn't done yet.