text: " The Academy credits Skolsky with "the first confirmed newspaper reference" to Oscar in his column on March 16, 1934, which was written about that year's 6th Academy Awards.But in the newspaper clipping that Skolsky referred to, he wrote that "these statues are called 'Oscars'", meaning that the name was already in use.Bruce Davis, a former executive director of the Academy, credits Eleanore Lilleberg, a secretary at the Academy when the award was first introduced, for the nickname, as she had been in charge of pre-ceremony handling of the awards.Davis credits Lilleberg because he found in an autobiography of Einar Lilleberg, Eleanore's brother, that Einar had referenced a Norwegian army veteran named Oscar that the two knew in Chicago, whom Einar described as having always "stood straight and tall." He asserts credit "should almost certainly belong to" Lilleberg.Engraving To prevent information identifying the Oscar winners from leaking ahead of the ceremony, Oscar statuettes presented at the ceremony have blank baseplates.Until 2010, winners returned their statuettes to the Academy and had to wait several weeks to have their names inscribed on their respective Oscars.Since 2010, winners have had the option of having engraved nameplates applied to their statuettes at an inscription-processing station at the Governor's Ball, a party held immediately after the Oscar ceremony.The R.S.Owens company has engraved nameplates made before the ceremony, bearing the name of every potential winner.The nameplates for the non-winning nominees are later recycled.Ownership of Oscar statuettes Prior to 1950, Oscar statuettes were (and remain) the property of the recipient.Since then the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that the statuette be first offered for sale back to the Academy for US$1.If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette.