QR Codes: Legal Risks & Mitigation in Marketing Motion Pictures
Abstract
Increasingly, marketers use QR codes to promote, advertise and market goods. This article focuses on how QR codes are used in the marketing of motion pictures and some important legal issues that arise. The relevancy of QR codes increased substantially, since Denso Wave, a Japanese company, debuted the first QR code in 1994 . Smartphone manufacturers such as Apple integrating QR code readers into their devices’ built-in camera and contactless communication during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the QR code’s ubiquitous use in today’s society. One common legal issue marketers face when using QR codes is the collection and processing of consumer data being compliant with consumer privacy laws. Consumer data can be collected from a QR Code when that QR Code drives the device reading it to a digital environment configured to collect cookies from that device. Responsible marketers will want to maintain the security, confidentiality, availability, and integrity of personal information and do their best to ensure that such data is not compromised by a QR Code scan. Another important legal issue relates to litigation stemming from patent infringement claims based on how businesses display and/or utilize a QR code.
Copyright & permissions
