Limits of the Supremacy of a European Patent Over a National Patent

A decision by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office that is under revision is not final even though the request for revision does not have suspensive effects. Therefore, such a decision cannot be grounds for the discontinuance of an action of invalidity of an Italian patent, because this only proceeds when the legal grounds for the action no longer exist. This can only occur when there is a final decision on a related matter. When a European patent is revoked, the Italian patent does not automatically become invalid, because the latter is an autonomous right.