It is possible to date old manufactured items using Diamond Registration marks and Registration Numbers. Intellectual Property Rights, to use the modern idiom, started with the Statute of Monopolies passed in 1623 during the reign of James I and was followed by the first legislation referring specifically to the protection of designs - an Act of Parliament in 1787 'for the encouragement of the Arts of designing and printing linens, calicos, cottons, and muslins by vesting the properties thereof in the designers, printers and proprietors for a limited time'. This limited time was about three months but was further amended in 1789.
 
Two Acts were passed, known as the Copyright of Designs Acts of 1839. The first Act gave twelve months protection to the design of textiles, and the second gave protection to all ornamentation for twelve months except for metal articles which were protected for three years. Protection was subject to registration at the Registrar of Designs at the Public Records Office.
 
The Copyright of Design Act 1842 created 13 classes of designs, and included all manufactured goods. It gave three years protection to most articles except fabrics which had nine months protection unless repeat patterns were larger than twelve by eight inches, in which case they had three years. This Act initiated the diamond registration scheme and required a payment of around £250 for each registered design. The Copyright of Design Act 1850 was introduced to give twelve months provisional registration to safeguard new designs that were wheeled out for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
 
The Victorians were acutely conscious of the need for public utilities to be self-financing, so much so that between 1851 and 1880, the Registrar of Designs made £2 million profit on income. From 1884 the design diamond scheme was scrapped for a simple consecutive numbering system. The revised 1883 Act expanded the scope of design registration to cover 'any article of manufacture, or to any substance artificial or natural, or partly artificial and partly natural, whether the design is applicable for the pattern, or for the shape or configuration, or for the configuration thereof, or for any two or more of such purposes and by whatever means it is applicable ....' and so on. The period of protection was extended to five years. The initials Rd or Rd No preceded the registration number.
 
The Patents and Design Act 1907 extended protection to a maximum of fifteen years. The Registered Designs Act of 1949 consolidated the law concerning copyright, which was further clarified by the Copyright Act of 1956, and which was extant until 2019, amended by EU Directives on the harmonisation of Copyright. Works could be copyright in other countries through international agreements, for example, the Berne Convention. In most countries, copyright lasts a minimum of life plus 50 years for most types of written, dramatic and artistic works, and at least 25 years for photographs. It can be different for other types of work. Contact the UKGov IPO Information Centre if you have a question about international copyright. IPO Information Centre information@ipo.gov.uk
 
The Sculpture Copyright Act of 1814 protected original sculpture from being copied. This Act provided plenty of litigation during a period of intense wrangling between top sculptors and their pupils. This would make a great topic for research.
 
The Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, TW9 4DU, holds all records of registered designs from 1839 to 1910; thereafter they were kept in the Patents Office Library, 25. Southampton Buildings, London WC2 1AY. They charge a fee for searches and a fee for use of their extensive library.
 
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Written by Thornton Kay, published in SalvoNEWS 93 on 23 July 1994, updated 21 July 2023