Beneficial owner is a legal term where specific
property rights ("use and title") in
equity belong to a person even though legal
title of the property belongs to another person. Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Pocket ed. 2001 pg. 508). This often relates where the legal title
owner has implied
trustee duties to the beneficial owner. Under US copyright law, an
author may transfer some rights to the copyright owner (often an employer) while retaining a future "reversionary interest," such as that of copyright renewal. For example, "[t]he legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right under a copyright . . . to institute an action for any infringement of that particular right committed while he or she is the owner of it."
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The actual or economic owner of an offshore company as distinct from the registered or nominal owner.