blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html

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   6     <title>Petter Reinholdtsen: UsingQR - "Electronic" paper invoices using JSON and QR codes</title>
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  14  <h1>
  15      <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
  16
  17  </h1>
  18
  19 </div>
  20
  21
  22     <div class="entry">
  23       <div class="title">UsingQR - "Electronic" paper invoices using JSON and QR codes</div>
  24       <div class="date">19th March 2016</div>
  25       <div class="body"><p>Back in 2013 I proposed
  26 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Electronic__paper_invoices___using_vCard_in_a_QR_code.html">a
  27 way to make paper and PDF invoices easier to process electronically by
  28 adding a QR code with the key information about the invoice</a>.  I
  29 suggested using vCard field definition, to get some standard format
  30 for name and address, but any format would work.  I did not do
  31 anything about the proposal, but hoped someone one day would make
  32 something like it.  It would make it possible to efficiently send
  33 machine readable invoices directly between seller and buyer.</p>
  34
  35 <p>This was the background when I came across a proposal and
  36 specification from the web based accounting and invoicing supplier
  37 <a href="http://www.visma.com/">Visma</a> in Sweden called
  38 <a href="http://usingqr.com/">UsingQR</a>.  Their PDF invoices contain
  39 a QR code with the key information of the invoice in JSON format.
  40 This is the typical content of a QR code following the UsingQR
  41 specification (based on a real world example, some numbers replaced to
  42 get a more bogus entry).  I've reformatted the JSON to make it easier
  43 to read.  Normally this is all on one long line:
  44
  45 <p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-19-qr-invoice.png" align="right"><pre>
  46 {
  47  "vh":500.00,
  48  "vm":0,
  49  "vl":0,
  50  "uqr":1,
  51  "tp":1,
  52  "nme":"Din Leverandør",
  53  "cc":"NO",
  54  "cid":"997912345 MVA",
  55  "iref":"12300001",
  56  "idt":"20151022",
  57  "ddt":"20151105",
  58  "due":2500.0000,
  59  "cur":"NOK",
  60  "pt":"BBAN",
  61  "acc":"17202612345",
  62  "bc":"BIENNOK1",
  63  "adr":"0313 OSLO"
  64 }
  65 </pre></p>
  66
  67 </p>The interpretation of the fields can be found in the
  68 <a href="http://usingqr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/UsingQR_specification1.pdf">format
  69 specification</a> (revision 2 from june 2014).  The format seem to
  70 have most of the information needed to handle accounting and payment
  71 of invoices, at least the fields I have needed so far here in
  72 Norway.</p>
  73
  74 <p>Unfortunately, the site and document do not mention anything about
  75 the patent, trademark and copyright status of the format and the
  76 specification.  Because of this, I asked the people behind it back in
  77 November to clarify.  Ann-Christine Savlid (ann-christine.savlid (at)
  78 visma.com) replied that Visma had not applied for patent or trademark
  79 protection for this format, and that there were no copyright based
  80 usage limitations for the format.  I urged her to make sure this was
  81 explicitly written on the web pages and in the specification, but
  82 unfortunately this has not happened yet.  So I guess if there is
  83 submarine patents, hidden trademarks or a will to sue for copyright
  84 infringements, those starting to use the UsingQR format might be at
  85 risk, but if this happen there is some legal defense in the fact that
  86 the people behind the format claimed it was safe to do so.  At least
  87 with patents, there is always
  88 <a href="http://www.paperspecs.com/paper-news/beware-the-qr-code-patent-trap/">a
  89 chance of getting sued...</a>
  90
  91 <p>I also asked if they planned to maintain the format in an
  92 independent standard organization to give others more confidence that
  93 they would participate in the standardization process on equal terms
  94 with Visma, but they had no immediate plans for this.  Their plan was
  95 to work with banks to try to get more users of the format, and
  96 evaluate the way forward if the format proved to be popular.  I hope
  97 they conclude that using an open standard organisation like
  98 <a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> is the correct place to
  99 maintain such specification.</p>
 100 </div>
 101
 102       <div class="tags">Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.</div>
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 214
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 274 <ul>
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 299
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 301
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 328
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 330
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 337
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 339
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 341
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 344 <h2>Tags</h2>
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 441  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
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 443  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (49)</a></li>
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 451  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (2)</a></li>
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 455  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (8)</a></li>
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 460
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 462
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 464
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