In 1839 the Designs Registration Act was passed to provided copyright protection for ornamental designs mainly on textiles.

In 1842, Parliament extended and amended the copyright law to included ornamental design of all manufactured goods, and a new process of registration for ornamental designs began.
In 1843 the legislation was expanded to include designs for utilitarian wares.
This legislation gave ceramic designs 3 years of protection.

Whether for the design of a shape or a pattern, two different types of records were made.  Representations of the registered design were pasted into one set of books and another ledger was kept with details of the registered design number, the name and address of the copyright owner, or ‘proprietor’ (usually the manufacturer or retailer rather than the designer). the date of registration, and sometimes a description of the design (e.g.  ‘printed pattern’ or ‘dinner plate’).

We are most grateful to Phil and Harry Menick for sharing their easy to use database so fellow NCS members can check the details of their own diamond registered ceramics.  

Click on the appropriate diamond mark at  http://www.mernick.org.uk/godden/