Few names in the history of British pottery are as widely recognised as Wedgwood. The reputation established by Josiah Wedgwood during the eighteenth century made the name synonymous with quality, innovation and fine craftsmanship. 

As a result, the Wedgwood name became one of the most valuable commercial assets in the ceramics industry—and one that others were tempted to imitate, exploit or, in some cases, legitimately happened to share.

• This page examines five different examples of confusion surrounding the Wedgwood name. 

• They range from deliberate attempts to mislead buyers by adopting similar names or marks, through trade mark infringement, to modern collector misidentification between entirely separate pottery companies. 

• Together, they illustrate the importance of looking beyond the name itself and understanding the history behind the backstamp.

Although the marks discussed on this page may appear similar at first glance, each has a different story to tell. Knowing the differences not only helps collectors identify pottery correctly but also provides an insight into the changing ways in which manufacturers protected their names and reputations, from the nineteenth-century law of passing off to the trade mark legislation of the twentieth century.

Unlike later Stoke-on-Trent manufacturers who sometimes copied decorative styles, William Smith & Co. deliberately:

• adopted the Staffordshire identity,

• appropriated the Queen's Ware name,

• copied the Wedgwood mark,

• and, even after being restrained by the courts, continued using near-identical spellings to deceive customers.
  

The firm's methods included:

• Naming its factory "Stafford Pottery", invoking the reputation of the Staffordshire Potteries despite being located in Stockton-on-Tees.

• Describing its products as "Queen's Ware", the famous cream-coloured earthenware developed and popularised by Josiah Wedgwood.

• Impressing wares with marks such as:

  WEDGWOOD

  WEDGEWOOD

  WEDGEWOOD WARE

  later VEDGEWOOD or VEDGWOOD

• Using typography and impressed marks closely resembling those used by the genuine Wedgwood factory.

The intention was not simply to imitate the style of Wedgwood's products but to persuade customers that the wares were connected with the famous Etruria manufacturer.

The 1848 Injunction

Concerned by this deliberate misuse of its name, the Wedgwood firm (trading as Josiah Wedgwood & Sons) commenced proceedings in the Court of Chancery.

In August 1848 the Vice-Chancellor granted an interim injunction restraining William Smith & Co. from:

• stamping,

• engraving,

• marking, or

• otherwise placing..

the names "Wedgwood" or "Wedgewood" on their pottery, or from imitating or counterfeiting those names on any ware manufactured after July 1847.

On 9 November 1848, the Court made the injunction perpetual. Smith & Co. consented to the order and agreed to pay Wedgwood's legal costs.

Attempting to Evade the Court Order

Rather than abandoning the deception altogether, Smith & Co. simply altered the spelling of the mark. Later wares appear with impressed marks such as:

VEDGEWOOD

VEDGWOOD

These spellings were sufficiently different to avoid breaching the wording of the injunction, while remaining visually similar enough to mislead purchasers into believing they were buying genuine Wedgwood products.

As Geoffrey Godden later observed, the deception was effective enough that examples in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum were at one time catalogued as genuine Wedgwood before their true origin was recognised.

» explore further - William Smith & Co. 

At the same time (the 1840s to 1850s) as the injunction against William Smith & Co, John Wedg Wood was operating his Hadderidge pottery in Burslem and using the spaced mark "J. WEDG WOOD"

John Wedg Wood, a great-grandson of Ralph Wood, appears to have adopted the middle name "Wedg" specifically to exploit the reputation of the celebrated Wedgwood pottery. 

• By marking his wares "J. WEDG WOOD", he created a name that, at first glance, was almost indistinguishable from Wedgwood and was clearly capable of misleading purchasers. 

• While his intention cannot now be proved beyond doubt, the similarity is so striking that it is difficult to regard it as mere coincidence. 

Despite repeated claims in later pottery literature, no contemporary evidence has been found that John Wedg Wood was the subject of the same or a separate injunction, and this appears to be a confusion with the 1848 legal action against William Smith & Co.

» explore further - John Wedg Wood

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the protection of well-known pottery names had been strengthened by trade mark legislation. 

In 1905, Stephens & Co., of 40 Royal Arcade, Cardiff, publicly admitted that they had advertised and sold pottery as "New Wedgwood Blue" even though the goods had not been manufactured by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. The company acknowledged that, although the misuse was described as inadvertent, it had wrongfully used the Wedgwood name and its registered trade mark. 

As part of the settlement, Stephens & Co. issued a formal public apology, expressed regret for the infringement, and undertook not to repeat the offence. The published apology illustrates the increasing legal protection afforded to established pottery brands and demonstrates that, by the early twentieth century, manufacturers were prepared to enforce their registered trade marks as well as their commercial reputation.

Key Legal Frameworks of the Era

The Trade Marks Registration Act 1875 (UK): This monumental act established the world's first formal Trade Marks Registry in London. For the first time, British businesses could secure prima facie evidence of ownership, making it much easier to legally pursue counterfeiters without proving deliberate fraud.

The Paris Convention of 1883: Driven by international trade anxieties, this convention created the cornerstone for international industrial property rights. It ensured that member countries protected foreign trademarks as securely as domestic ones.

The Designs Registration Acts: British law formalized the protection of structural and visual elements (like ceramic shapes and surface patterns) via the Board of Trade, evolving from the early "diamond lozenge" marks to numerical registration numbers ("Rd No.") by 1884.

APOLOGY.

WE, STEPHENS & CO., of 40, Royal Arcade, Cardiff, hereby acknowledge that we have advertised and sold as "New Wedgwood Blue" articles not made by the firm of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, Limited, of Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, thereby wrongfully, but inadvertently, using their name and Registered Trade Mark. We much regret the offence, and undertake not to repeat it.

STEPHENS & CO.

Not all apparent "Wedgwood" marks are the result of deliberate imitation or passing off. 

• In 1835 Enoch Wedgwood (a distant cousin of Josiah Wedgwood) became a partner in Podmore, Walker & Co. and in 1856 the business was renamed Podmore, Walker, Wedgwood & Co. 

• Following the death of Thomas Podmore in 1860, Enoch Wedgwood inherited shares in the interests of the business left to him by Podmore, the partnership was dissolved and became Wedgwood & Co.

The wares of Wedgwood & Co. are frequently misidentified by collectors as products of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. simply because of the shared surname. In reality, the two businesses were entirely separate for well over a century. 

An easy way to distinguish them is that Josiah Wedgwood's company never traded as "& Co." Consequently, any backstamp bearing the words "Wedgwood & Co." or "Wedgwood & Co. Ltd." can be confidently attributed to the separate manufacturer rather than the famous Etruria firm.

• The distinction remained until 1965, when Wedgwood & Co. was sold to the American company Semart Importing Co. of New Jersey and renamed Enoch Wedgwood (Tunstall) Ltd. At the same time, Semart also acquired Crown Staffordshire China Co. 

• It was not until 1980 that Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. acquired Enoch Wedgwood, bringing the previously unrelated businesses together for the first time. Thereafter the pottery operated within the Wedgwood Group as the Unicorn Pottery. 

• Prior to that acquisition, however, Wedgwood & Co. had no connection whatsoever with Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd.

» explore further - Wedgwood & Co

The deceptive strategies once used by nineteenth-century potters to exploit the prestigious Wedgwood name have evolved into the internet age.

Where William Smith & Co. used the location name "Stafford Pottery" together with a concealed middle "E" ("WEDGEWOOD") to mislead consumers into buying generic earthenware, and makers such as John Wedg Wood relied on typographical separation, modern bad-faith actors have adopted misleading internet domain names and websites.

A notable example occurred in 2023, when the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled in favour of Fiskars UK Limited and Fiskars Oyj Abp, owners of the Wedgwood trade marks, in a dispute concerning the domain wedgwood.top (WIPO Case No. D2023-1021). 

• During the proceedings, Fiskars relied upon Wedgwood's long-established trade mark rights, including the United Kingdom registration dating from 28 February 1876 (No. UK00000002823), to demonstrate the long-standing protection of the WEDGWOOD name.

• The WIPO panel found that the disputed website displayed confusingly similar versions of the distinctive WEDGWOOD logo together with the words:
  "Welcome to Wedgwood J Wedgwood 1759"

• The panel concluded that the domain had been registered and used in bad faith, finding that it was intended to create the false impression of an official connection with the Wedgwood brand. The domain name was ordered to be transferred to Fiskars.

An Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) snapshot captured on 8 February 2023, only weeks before the WIPO complaint was filed, preserves the appearance of the website prior to its removal. The archived pages show how the Wedgwood name, branding and historical references were presented to reinforce an appearance of authenticity.

screenshot from the disputed website 'wedgwood.top'  

This deliberate manipulation of the words "Wedgwood J Wedgwood 1759" echoes the techniques employed more than a century earlier by traders seeking to exploit the reputation of Josiah Wedgwood. 

Just as firms such as Stephens & Co. of Cardiff were challenged for marketing non-Wedgwood wares as "New Wedgwood Blue", the operators of wedgwood.top attempted to exploit the goodwill associated with one of Britain's best-known ceramic brands.

Whether combating misleading pottery marks in the nineteenth century, deceptive advertising in the twentieth century, or cybersquatting in the twenty-first, the legal objective has remained remarkably consistent: to prevent others from creating consumer confusion by trading upon the reputation and goodwill of the Wedgwood name.

The case also serves as a reminder that professional-looking websites are not necessarily genuine. Collectors should always verify that they are dealing with the official Wedgwood website or an authorised retailer before making a purchase.

» explore further - read the World Intellectual Property Organization ruling