Every QR code you have ever scanned was free to make, and that is not an accident. The company that invented the format chose to give it away, while keeping the name. This article explains exactly what Denso Wave holds, what it has waived, what it asks in return, and what a business should actually do about it.
The patent
Denso, the Japanese car-parts maker, filed patents on the QR code around its release in 1994. Its subsidiary Denso Wave still lists the main one, Japanese Patent No. 2938338, on its standards page (Denso Wave).
The important sentence is on the same page: Denso Wave “has waived the rights to a patent in its possession (Patent No. 2938338) for standardized QR Codes only”. The company’s patent page puts it in plainer words: “Everyone can use the QR Code freely as long as following the standards for QR Codes in JIS or ISO” (Denso Wave).
The pledge dates from January 1999, when the code became Japanese standard JIS X 0510 (Denso Wave). The reasoning, given in Denso Wave’s own history, was that a code only one company could use would never spread; making it a “public code” was the point (Denso Wave).
Two limits apply:
- Standard codes only. The waiver covers codes that follow ISO/IEC 18004 and JIS X 0510. Denso Wave’s own variants that step outside the standard, such as SQRC (a code with a hidden encrypted section) and Frame QR (a code with a picture area in the middle), are its products and it asks anyone considering “a QR Code that deviates from the standards” to contact the patent holders first (Denso Wave). The variants article covers each.
- The pledge is a promise, not a licence document. There is no contract to sign. In practice a thirty-year record of non-enforcement, combined with the general 20-year life of patents, means the risk to a user of standard codes is nil.
Note
Patents generally run for 20 years from filing, so patents filed in 1994 would have expired around 2014 regardless of the waiver. Denso Wave has continued to file on later variants, which is why the “standard codes only” limit still matters for SQRC and Frame QR.
The trademark
The pattern is free. The name is not. “QR Code” is a registered trademark of Denso Wave in Japan and other countries. The company’s FAQ is clear that the trademark applies to the words, not to the code image: no application or permission is needed to make or use codes, but “to use the word ‘QR Code’ in your publications or web site, etc, please indicate a sentence QR Code is registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED” (Denso Wave).
That is the attribution rule. The wording Denso Wave gives on its English page omits the article; the version you will see on most packaging and websites reads:
QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.
Either form does the job. Put it in a footer, in the small print of a poster, or in a “Legal” page. This site carries it in its footer.
The FAQ also confirms the licensing position in one line: asked whether a licence is needed, it answers “No. The license to the use of the QR Code stipulated by JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) and the ISO are not necessary” (Denso Wave).
What this means for a business
| Feature | Standard QR code | Micro QR / rMQR | SQRC / Frame QR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make and print without paying | ✓ | ✓ | Contact Denso Wave |
| Use commercially | ✓ | ✓ | Contact Denso Wave |
| Build a generator or scanner app | ✓ | ✓ | Licence required |
| Use the words "QR Code" in marketing | With attribution | With attribution | With attribution |
| Register a trademark containing "QR Code" | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
Three everyday cases:
- A café printing a menu code. Nothing to pay, nobody to ask. If the menu says “scan the QR code”, the attribution line in the footer of the menu is polite and costs one line of 6-point type. Most small businesses skip it and nothing happens; large brands include it.
- A developer shipping a scanner app. The format is free to implement from the ISO standard. Any website or listing for the app that uses the phrase “QR Code” should carry the attribution. This site does, in its footer.
- A design agency proposing “a QR code with our client’s photo in the middle”. If the photo sits on top of a standard code and the code still decodes, it is a standard code with a logo and is free. If the agency wants Denso Wave’s Frame QR, which reserves a canvas area by changing the code structure, that is a Denso product and needs Denso.
Do this
Footer text: 'QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.'
Not this
A product named 'QR Code Pro' with a trademark symbol after it.
Why generator sites do not mention any of this
Almost no QR generator explains the patent or the attribution line. Partly this is because there is nothing to sell: the answer is “it is free”. Partly it is because the trademark line looks like a legal burden and marketing pages avoid those. The result is that many businesses assume either that codes cost money (they do not) or that the name is public property (it is not, quite). Neither mistake is expensive, but the truth is short enough to state.
▸Trademark, generic use and why Denso still cares
A trademark that everybody uses as the ordinary word for a thing is at risk of becoming generic, at which point the owner can lose it. “Escalator” and “aspirin” went that way in some countries. Denso Wave’s request for the attribution line is the standard way an owner shows it is policing its mark: every footer that carries the line is evidence that the public knows “QR Code” is a brand. That is why the request is polite, universal and never enforced with invoices. Honouring it costs you nothing and helps keep the name attached to the standard rather than to any one generator company.
Try it yourself
Decode any code you have been given. If the decoder reads the whole message, it is a standard code and the waiver covers it. An SQRC decodes to its public part only; the hidden part needs Denso Wave’s own readers.