Just a short "lesson" about the processing of a patent:

Step 1: You file a patent.
Step 2: Within 7 years you have to request for an examination of the patent by the patent office.
Step 3: 18 month after Step 2 the patent will be published.
Step 4: In case the eximination of the patent is positive, the patent will be granted.

As far as I know, before Step 4 a patent is pending, but I am not sure if it is pending before Step 2.

This means a published patent still is pending and can be rejected - due to formal issues or because the invention was not new or has no commercial background. Often competitors are opposing to a published patent (within 9 month after pblishing), so the patent examiners can have a closer look.