Founded in 1668 in Darmstadt, Germany, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. In the 19th century, the success of our export business to the United States led to the establishment of an office in New York in 1887, which gave rise to the establishment of a separate entity four years later. Due to World War I, it was expropriated in 1917.
Ever since, there are two different, unaffiliated companies that use the name MERCK. Globally, except in the United States and Canada, Merck KGaA, which operates this website, and its affiliates are named simply “Merck”. In the United States and Canada, Merck KGaA uses its firm name "Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany," and its businesses operate under "EMD Serono" in biopharma, "MilliporeSigma" in life science and "EMD Performance Materials" in the materials business. The other company, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, US holds the rights in the trademark MERCK in the United States and Canada. Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, US is not affiliated with or related to Merck KGaA and its affiliates which own the MERCK trademark in all other countries of the world. To reflect such fact and to avoid any confusion, we geotarget our websites and certain logos, terms and business description of the publication on the website intended to users in the US and Canada (i.e. emdgroup.com) have been substituted or modified, such as by referring to "Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany" instead of "Merck" standing alone.
Merck and Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA are involved in various legal disputes regarding the use of the name and trademark MERCK.