A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents and IP.
In other words, „patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for patentability.“
List of patent offices:
Patent Offices Worldwide
Australia | Austria | Belgium | Brazil | Canada | China | Czech Republic
Denmark | Finland | Germany | Hungary | India | Indonesia | Ireland
Israel | Italy | Japan | Korea | Latvia | Luxembourg | Malaysia
Mexico | Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway | Romania | Russia
Singapore | Slovenia | South Africa | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland