Beneficial ownership is enjoyed by anyone who has the benefits of ownership

Ownership

Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over property, which may be an object, land/real estate or intellectual property. Ownership involves multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different parties. The concept of ownership has...

 of a Security (finance)

Security (finance)

A security is generally a fungible, negotiable financial instrument representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into:* debt securities ,* equity securities, e.g., common stocks; and,...

 or property

Property

Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...

, and yet does not nominally own the asset itself.

In US securities law, a beneficial owner

Beneficial owner

Beneficial owner is a legal term where specific property rights in equity belong to a person even though legal title of the property belongs to another person. Black's Law Dictionary...

 (as distinct from a "nominee owner," "registered

Registered

Registered can refer to:* Registered company* Registered mail, a trackable mail service available in most countries* Registered memory, a type of computer memory, also known as buffered memory...

owner," or "record holder") of a security includes any person who, directly or indirectly, has or shares voting or investment power.http://www.law.uc.edu/CCL/34ActRls/rule13d-3.html