Our barcode numbers originate from the Uniform Code Council when the early UCC sold millions of numbers through member organisations in the USA.

In 2002 the UCC changed from a sales model to a licencing model, where barcode-users pay recurring fees for the sales-lifetime of their products. The UCC tried to force their member organisations to comply with restrictive new requirements that included annual renewal fees and contractual agreements on the use of barcode prefixes.

UCC member organisations objected, brought a class action against the UCC, and won, causing the UCC to settle out of court in August 2002.

As a consequence, the barcode numbers being traded by members escaped monopolistic regulation, and to this day those millions of US-origin barcode numbers can be legitimately traded and owned anywhere in the world.

Internationalbarcodes and the International Barcode Network purchase these barcode numbers in bulk from the US traders and resell them to the public.

To date we have sold more than a million numbers in some 120 countries.

Without the successful class action by early UCC members, there would now be a full global monopoly on barcode number trading, and all barcode-users in the world would have no option but to licence their barcode numbers via recurring fees rather than paying a single fair purchase price to own them outright.

Because it is entirely legitimate, we continue to trade, and you are able to own barcode numbers in perpetuity by buying from us rather than paying recurring licence fees.

Barcode purchasers are understandably confused, so we provide a guarantee of legitimacy for every barcode sale – see Our barcode number guarantee.