''Spray Booth'' Decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation of Italy, Civil Division, Section I (Corte Suprema di Cassazione, Sez. I Civ.) 30 August 2023-Case No. 25454/2023; ECLI:IT:CASS:2023:25454CIV

1. Industrial inventions and utility models are distinct regulatory concepts that cannot coexist. 2. This allows any party applying for a patent for an industrial invention to submit an application for a utility model patent at the same time. 3. If a European patent and an Italian patent have been granted for the same invention, the latter, to the extent that it protects the same invention, ceases to have effect. The validity of the Italian patent will not be reinstated even if the European patent is declared to be invalid. No distinction is made in this regard between an invention patent and a utility model patent. 4. A European patent application that has been rejected, withdrawn or is deemed to have been withdrawn may be transformed into a national application for a utility model, as long as the object of the application meets the patentability requirements envisaged under national law [here: Italian law] for such models. 5. This does not preclude parties who already hold a national utility model patent from submitting a European patent application.