The German Patent Office initiates trademark registration, rapidly increasing the number of protected signs.

Patent agent, chemist, and inventor Ernst Utescher creates a system to record all published trademarks in lists according to phonetic criteria. He shares the lists with colleagues.

SMD is founded to expand archive access to a larger group. Soon, punch cards streamline the manual phonetic list search.

Thousands of cards are physically moved for each query. The pre-selection is done by IBM computers, followed by a manual look-up of each selected mark in the paper journals.

Magnetic disks replace punch cards for space efficiency. The analysts can now perform manual selection at a computer terminal.

SMD scans all trademark data in collaboration with the German PTO to complete the transition to electronic searching. Apple PCs are used for device mark searching.

The new internet enables direct access to trademark databases, leading SMD to develop the first German trademark search software and pursue internationalization.

SMD introduces AI for device mark searches, with plans for industrial designs. The next Utescher generation joins the company in the same year.