European Patent Office (EPO)

A regional patent organisation that centrally grants patents on behalf of a number of European countries that are members of the organisation (referred to as contracting states).  It was created and is governed by the European Patent Convention (EPC) which is a multilateral treaty that is distinct from, and outside of, the European Union (EU) and includes both EU and non-EU countries, including the United Kingdom.  A full list of contracting states [↗] is available on the EPO's website. 

A single patent application (commonly referred to as a European patent application) can be filed with the EPO and prosecuted through to grant.  Upon grant, the European patent application is converted into a bundle of patents, each covering a contracting state in which patent protection is desired.  A subset of the contracting states that are also signatories to the Unitary Patent Convention may be collectively covered by a single Unitary Patent.