Our name and brand

Please find here more details on the story of our brand that goes back to 1668.

We are Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a vibrant science and technology company. Our roots date back more than 350 years to 1668, when Friedrich Jacob Merck received a privilege for a pharmacy in Darmstadt. This pharmacy was the nucleus of our company.

In the late 19th century, as our business grew strongly, we sold our products in many countries around the world, including the United States, which was already a major market. Therefore, we established a branch office in New York in 1887 and then in 1890, Georg Merck and the chemist Theodor Weicker founded a company. In the course of World War I, this company was expropriated in 1917. The two companies have been entirely separated ever since.

An overview of milestones in our history is available here.

The use of the name and brand worldwide
There are two different, unaffiliated companies that use the name MERCK. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates this website, uses the firm name "Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany" in the United States and Canada, and also uses "MilliporeSigma" in Life Science, "EMD Serono" in Healthcare, as well as "EMD Electronics" in Electronics.

Download picture material for editorial use
In case you need logos or further picture material related to our brand for editorial purposes, please find a selection of images here.

Our Digital Brand Hub
Our Digital Brand Hub provides important guidelines, tools and assets for those working with our brand.

Legal proceedings
More details on legal proceedings regarding our brand can be found here.