What are the rules for UPC/bar codes/patents on stationery items?

What are the rules for UPC/bar codes/patents on stationery items?
I am working on a series of greeting cards that I hope to someday market to larger retail stores. How do I find information about UPC codes as they relate to stationery? Does each individual card need a separate one if they are the same price? What exactly are their purpose? Do they need to be purchased, and where from? Also, how and where does one patent a design for a greeting card?

Also, I am aware that there are several different software programs for creating bar codes that can be used in page layout software. What is the best one to use?

Best answer:

Bar codes are assigned to products and you can’t just do it yourself. Google abr codes and get registered to create them. They ahve a FAQ page that can answer your questions better than we can in the space allotted here.

Tags: codes/patents, items, rules, stationery, UPC/bar

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