Heidi Tolliver-Walker recently posted an entertaining and informative piece on the term “QR Code.”
This name (NOT the pattern itself, just the name) is actually a registered trademark in the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe and belongs to a company called Denso Wave.
First, this was news to us so I want to apologize for not using the ® in our recent webinar title “From Web to Print with [Trademark Name Here] and AR Codes.” (Please tell me AR Codes isn’t also trademarked!)
Second, we understand where Heidi’s coming from – I got a headache just thinking about how many of those ®s we’d need to reference on our website considering the popularity of the two-dimensional barcode of late.
Even our normally roll-with-the-punches editor is whining (not a pleasant sound) because its going to be tough keeping headlines within our 37 character-including-spaces format maximum if she has to start using the words “two-dimensional barcode” (23 characters) instead of [trademarked name here] (7 characters).
So we leave it up to you dear readers – what short, concise, catchy, and generic name can we give to [trademarked name here]? Really, I need your help … I can’t keep stuffing these Kleenex (Ooops! I mean TISSUES.) in my ears to drown out that whining sound.
