Google Commemorates 57th Anniversary of First Barcode Patent

The patent for the barcode, at the time represented by a series of concentric circles, was granted to Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver on October 7, 1952.

In the 1970s, the Universal Product Code (UPC) was adopted as an industry standard for barcode technology. Earlier this year, in June, GS1 US, a nonprofit organization dedicated to adopting and implementing standards for global supply chains, celebrated the 35th anniversary of the UPC.

GS1 US says the first live use of a UPC took place in a Marsh Supermarkets store in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974, when a cashier scanned a package of Wrigley’s gum.