diff --git a/.changeset/polite-houses-wink.md b/.changeset/polite-houses-wink.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3e177f5383
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/polite-houses-wink.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog-react': patch
+---
+
+- **BREAKING**: The `isOwnerOf` function has been marked as `@alpha` and is now only available via the `@backstage/plugin-catalog-react/alpha` import. The limitations of this function with regards to only supporting direct relations have also been documented.
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md b/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md
index 75414e3d59..b482bed9a6 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md
@@ -452,8 +452,8 @@ export function InspectEntityDialog(props: {
   onClose: () => void;
 }): JSX.Element | null;
 
-// @public
-export function isOwnerOf(owner: Entity, owned: Entity): boolean;
+// @alpha
+export function isOwnerOf(owner: Entity, entity: Entity): boolean;
 
 // @public @deprecated
 export function loadCatalogOwnerRefs(
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/isOwnerOf.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/isOwnerOf.ts
index f1ba0fa35f..2b38ace247 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/isOwnerOf.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/isOwnerOf.ts
@@ -24,10 +24,15 @@ import {
 import { getEntityRelations } from './getEntityRelations';
 
 /**
- * Get the related entity references.
- * @public
+ * Returns true if the `owner` argument is a direct owner on the `entity` argument.
+ *
+ * @alpha
+ * @remarks
+ *
+ * Note that this ownership is not the same as using the claims in the auth-resolver, it only will take into account ownership as expressed by direct entity relations.
+ * It doesn't know anything about the additional groups that a user might belong to which the claims contain.
  */
-export function isOwnerOf(owner: Entity, owned: Entity) {
+export function isOwnerOf(owner: Entity, entity: Entity) {
   const possibleOwners = new Set(
     [
       ...getEntityRelations(owner, RELATION_MEMBER_OF, { kind: 'group' }),
@@ -35,7 +40,7 @@ export function isOwnerOf(owner: Entity, owned: Entity) {
     ].map(stringifyEntityRef),
   );
 
-  const owners = getEntityRelations(owned, RELATION_OWNED_BY).map(
+  const owners = getEntityRelations(entity, RELATION_OWNED_BY).map(
     stringifyEntityRef,
   );