European Patent Office (EPO)

The European Patent Office (EPO) is an international authority set up on the basis of the European Patent Convention to grant European patents using a unitary and centralised procedure. A single patent application in any of the three official languages - English, French or German - can provide patent protection in 34 states.

The European patent system also offers a high level of legal certainty, as European patents are only granted following an in-depth examination and a comprehensive novelty search based on a collection of over 60 million documents.

Web site:
EPO.org