And the Winner Is . . . Oscar, Court Declares : * Law: A federal appeals court overturns a 1989 decision and extends copyright protection to statuette.

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the familiar Oscar statuette that universally symbolizes the Academy Awards is protected by federal copyright laws, striking down an earlier decision that the Oscar had entered the public domain.

The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which had been fighting a court battle to preserve its trademark rights to the Oscar for more than eight years.

“We conclude that the academy’s sleek, muscular gold statuette known as ‘Oscar,’ which is recognized worldwide as a distinctive symbol of outstanding achievement in film . . . is entitled to protection” under federal law, wrote Judge Harry Pregerson on behalf of a three-judge panel that heard the case last March.

The decision was a setback for Creative House Promotions Inc., a Chicago trophy company, which in the late 1970s started to market an Oscar look-alike for use in promotions and industrial awards.

The Motion Picture Academy began litigation in 1983, trying to get courts to rule that, even though the Oscar failed to meet some technical copyright requirements, the familiar image was entitled to trademark protection under a 1976 federal law. In 1989, U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters sided with the academy’s opponents, ruling that Oscar’s claim to copyright protection couldn’t be legally supported.

The timing of the decision Wednesday took attorneys involved by the case by surprise. Academy spokesmen said the organization had not had time to analyze Pregerson’s ruling and could not comment on it. Eric Olson, the Los Angeles lawyer who represents Creative House Productions, said he had not read the ruling, either.

But Olson said Pregerson’s decision may have left unresolved the question of whether Creative House violated any Oscar copyright that may exist. He said he could not predict whether the Chicago company would seek a separate ruling on that question or appeal the entire case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The motion picture academy claimed a quasi-legal copyright for the Oscar from the time the award was first given in 1929 through 1941, when a formal copyright was issued. But questions arose whether the copyright remained valid after passage of a new copyright act in 1976. Creative House contended that the Oscar image had entered the public domain and could be legally used by anyone. The firm also noted that its so-called “Star Award” statuette was slightly different in appearance--and two inches shorter--than the official Oscar.