In order to obtain protection for an invention on the territory of North Macedonia, applicants must first file a submission with the State Office of Industrial Property (SOIP) of the Republic of North Macedonia. This submission should contain an application for patent protection along with legally required documentation describing the invention.

If the application contains all the necessary elements, the Patent Office will date the application and assign it a unique number. In the next step, SOIP clerks will draw up a state-of-the-art report, which is a review of the available patent literature and which will be taken into account when assessing the submitted invention. The formal and legal aspects of the patent are also examined. If the documentation is found to contain any defects at this stage, the applicant will be permitted to correct such defects. The SOIP will also carry out other checks, such as making sure that the submitted invention is not excluded from patentability, does not violate the Industrial Property Law (IPL), and does not contravene public order and decency.

Twelve months after receiving the application, the SOIP will publish the patent application in the SOIP Official Gazette (OG) and afterwards issue a decision to grant or refuse to grant the exclusive right or to terminate the proceedings. If the decision is positive, and the applicant pays all the required fees, the decision is entered in the register and announced in the OG, and the applicant receives a Decision for granted patent as well Registration Certificate as confirmation.