# Barcode Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654 "2003-12-03T05:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/1 "2003-12-03T05:14:02Z")
I want to put a picture of a barcode on something I’d be selling. It would serve no purpose other than to look cool, am I able to do this or does someone own the rights to the look of the barcore? ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/2 "2003-12-03T05:15:06Z")
To clarify, I mean the black and white striped barcodes that are scanned when you purchase something at a super market. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/3 "2003-12-03T05:50:42Z")
I don’t believe that standard barcodes are copyrighted (don’t quote me on this). Google for “3of9.ttf”, you should find plenty of sites offering a free 3 of 9 barcode font that actually works (ie, it scans just fine, but remember to prefix and suffix your text with \*'s like so: _duderdude2_). Good luck on your sale. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/4 "2003-12-03T05:53:13Z")
If you ever do sell it in retail, I think putting a fake UPC code on it would not be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/5 "2003-12-03T06:48:18Z")
- - - The font used may be copyrighted, as is usually the overall system. I worked for a place that created and sold warehouse/logistics software and usually the barcode systems use a bitsum digit, and the bitsum schemes are copyrighted to prevent anyone who has not obtained a license from using them. Granted, I don’t know that this would matter much to whatever you were doing, but you could perhaps use a text output instead of numbers, and spell out something pertinent (but obviously contrived) with the text. That way it’s clearly not an attempt to illegally use that particular barcoding system. -It’s what the band U2 did for one of their tour logos, and I don’t remember reading of them getting sued… ~ ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/6 "2003-12-03T07:39:43Z")
DougC, what exactly do you mean by “use a text outpuy instead of numbers”? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/7 "2003-12-03T09:25:34Z")
The 3of9 symbology works rather differently than that of UPC/EAN barcodes, in that a character is always represented by the same pattern of dark and light lines - there are also no ‘guard bars’ (although it is necessary to enclose the coded value in asterisks). 3of9 is also less compact than UPC/EAN, but part of the reason for this is that the range of characters that can be expressed is greater (alphabetic data cane be encoded as well as numbers). ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/8 "2003-12-03T10:55:52Z")
- - - If you find and download the “3of9” barcode ttf font (it’s available free on many free font sites) you will see that not only does it allow encoding numbers, but text as well. (the UPC code is numbers and asterisk symbols only) And when you hit a character, it prints the character, and the barcodes above the character. So if you entered a silly name or phrase, there wouldn’t be actual numbers below the bar-code, there would be letters that said something, and no cashier would be able to even enter it into their register manually. ~ ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barcode-question/216654/9 "2003-12-03T11:12:32Z")
I once had a really good site that explained how to read barcodes, but I’ve lost it and google is being unfriendly today…anyway, [http://www.csensors.com/basic1.html](http://www.csensors.com/basic1.html) explains how they work so you can make up a custom one with whatever you want (find the hidden message?) and avoid making anything misleading. Barcodes can not be copyrighted because they’re just numbers.