The
European Patent Office (
EPO) grants
European patents. Despite what the name suggests, these are not
European Community patents or even Europe-wide patents. The European Patent Convention, according to which the EPO was founded, provides a single patent grant procedure, but not yet a single patent. After grant, the European patent becomes a number ("bundle") of national patents.
The EPO is seated in Munich, Germany with a branch in Rijswijk, near the Hague, Netherlands, Vienna and Berlin
Official EPO Homepage (http://www.epo.org)