diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataFactory.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataFactory.php
index 0f0fb17aa..f358ca756 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataFactory.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataFactory.php
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ class ClassMetadataFactory
     {
         foreach ($parentClass->associationMappings as $field => $mapping) {
             if ($parentClass->isMappedSuperclass) {
-                if ($mapping['type'] & ClassMetadata::TO_MANY) {
+                if ($mapping['type'] & ClassMetadata::TO_MANY && !$mapping['isOwningSide']) {
                     throw MappingException::illegalToManyAssocationOnMappedSuperclass($parentClass->name, $field);
                 }
                 $mapping['sourceEntity'] = $subClass->name;
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/MappingException.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/MappingException.php
index 14bd9ca0b..9bfe59de1 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/MappingException.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/MappingException.php
@@ -229,6 +229,6 @@ class MappingException extends \Doctrine\ORM\ORMException
 
     public static function illegalToManyAssocationOnMappedSuperclass($className, $field)
     {
-        return new self("It is illegal to put a one-to-many or many-to-many association on mapped superclass '".$className."#".$field."'.");
+        return new self("It is illegal to put an inverse side one-to-many or many-to-many association on mapped superclass '".$className."#".$field."'.");
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Mapping/AnnotationDriverTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Mapping/AnnotationDriverTest.php
index 5730fcfe4..95d583f53 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Mapping/AnnotationDriverTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Mapping/AnnotationDriverTest.php
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ class AnnotationDriverTest extends AbstractMappingDriverTest
         $factory->setEntityManager($em);
 
         $this->setExpectedException('Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\MappingException',
-            "It is illegal to put a one-to-many or many-to-many association on ".
+            "It is illegal to put an inverse side one-to-many or many-to-many association on ".
             "mapped superclass 'Doctrine\Tests\ORM\Mapping\InvalidMappedSuperClass#users'");
         $usingInvalidMsc = $factory->getMetadataFor('Doctrine\Tests\ORM\Mapping\UsingInvalidMappedSuperClass');
     }
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class ColumnWithoutType
 class InvalidMappedSuperClass
 {
     /**
-     * @ManyToMany(targetEntity="Doctrine\Tests\Models\CMS\CmsUser")
+     * @ManyToMany(targetEntity="Doctrine\Tests\Models\CMS\CmsUser", mappedBy="invalid")
      */
     private $users;
 }