Beneficial Owner Law and Legal Definition
In equity, a beneficial owner is one who benefits from a security or property because the use and title belongs to him/her, although the legal title may belong to another person. In terms of Intellectual Property Law, a beneficial owner is one who enjoys the rights in a patent, trademark, or copyright although legal title belongs to someone else. A beneficial owner has standing to sue for infringement.
Beneficial owner as it appears under title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
The term "beneficial owner" shall mean any person who is deemed a beneficial owner pursuant to section 13(d) of the Act and the rules thereunder; provided, however, that the following institutions or persons shall not be deemed the beneficial owner of securities of such class held for the benefit of third parties or in customer or fiduciary accounts in the ordinary course of business (or in the case of an employee benefit plan specified in paragraph (a)(1)(vi) of this section, of securities of such class allocated to plan participants where participants have voting power) as long as such shares are acquired by such institutions or persons without the purpose or effect of changing or influencing control of the issuer or engaging in any arrangement subject to Rule 13d-3(b) (§ 240.13d-3(b)):
(i) A broker or dealer registered under section 15 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78o);
(ii) A bank as defined in section 3(a)(6) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c);
(iii) An insurance company as defined in section 3(a)(19) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c);
(iv) An investment company registered under section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-8);
(v) Any person registered as an investment adviser under Section 203 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b-3) or under the laws of any state;
(vi) An employee benefit plan as defined in Section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. ("ERISA") that is subject to the provisions of ERISA, or any such plan that is not subject to ERISA that is maintained primarily for the benefit of the employees of a state or local government or instrumentality, or an endowment fund;
(vii) A parent holding company or control person, provided the aggregate amount held directly by the parent or control person, and directly and indirectly by their subsidiaries or affiliates that are not persons specified in § 240.16a-1 (a)(1)(i) through (x), does not exceed one percent of the securities of the subject class;
(viii) A savings association as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813);
(ix) A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-3);
(x) A non-U.S. institution that is the functional equivalent of any of the institutions listed in paragraphs (a)(1)(i) through (ix) of this section, so long as the non-U.S. institution is subject to a regulatory scheme that is substantially comparable to the regulatory scheme applicable to the equivalent U.S. institution and the non-U.S. institution is eligible to file a Schedule 13G pursuant to § 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J); and
(xi) A group, provided that all the members are persons specified in § 240.16a-1 (a)(1)(i) through (x). (17 CFR 240.16a-1)