The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) works with ID.me to verify USPTO users accessing their online portal. ID.me provides secure digital identity verification to government agencies and healthcare providers to make sure you are you—and not someone pretending to be you.
This article explains how to access USPTO with ID.me. To use USPTO for business purposes, visit Using USPTO for work.
Get started
To begin the verification process, sign in to your MyUSPTO account:
- Go to www.uspto.gov and select MyUSPTO in the upper right corner of the page.
- Sign in to your USPTO.gov account. If you haven’t set up an account, select Create a USPTO.gov account and enter your information.
Note: If you are accessing the TEAS filing system, select the appropriate role from the drop down menu. - Complete multi-factor authentication through Okta.
- Select Verify with ID.me.
How you continue depends on whether you already have an ID.me account or need to create an ID.me account for the first time. Select the appropriate tab below for step-by-step instructions.
Do not create another account if you already have one. Instead, add the email associated with your organization, then sign in to share your information.
Share your information
Add your organization’s email to your ID.me account and share your information:
- Select Sign In with ID.me, then sign in with your ID.me account and complete multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Follow the prompts to add another email and provide any additional information.
- From the Authorize screen, review the information the organization you are verifying for will receive, and then select Allow to consent to share that information with them.
After you share your information, you are good to go! You do not need to verify your identity again, you may continue with your organization.
If you have never created an ID.me account, you need to:
- Enter your personal email address and a strong password, then select Create account. Learn how to create a strong password.
- Follow the prompts to finish setting up your ID.me account and to confirm ownership of your email.
- Set up a multi-factor authentication (MFA) method.
After creating an account and securing it with MFA, follow steps below to verify your identity.
Verify for USPTO
You can verify using self-service, which is a guided process, or with a live agent during a video call.
How to verify
You can choose to verify your identity with:
- Recommended method to verify.
- It takes 5-10 minutes to complete.
For steps to verify, visit Verifying with Self-Service.
When verifying your identity on a video call, you must upload and show the following physical documents:
- Two primary documents or
- One primary and one secondary document
For a complete list of eligible primary and secondary documents, visit Primary and secondary identification documents. You may also need to submit additional documentation if you’ve changed your legal name or need to prove your social security number.
For steps to verify, visit Verifying your identity on a Video Call.
Do you have multiple ID.me accounts?
If you already created a duplicate ID.me account using your work email address or another email address that you own, follow the steps in Using an email address that’s on your duplicate account to make your email address available to add to your original ID.me account.
For more information on duplicate accounts, visit Duplicate account.
You’re verified!
From the Authorize screen, review the information USPTO will receive, and then select Allow to consent to share that information with them. After you have verified your identity and shared your information with USPTO, you will see “ID.me Verified” next to “Account Details.”
Get Help
ID.me can help if you have trouble with the identity verification process. Common issues include:
- Account sign-in issues
- Uploading identification documents or selfies
- Fixing documents that were rejected
USPTO can best help with questions and next steps after you complete the verification process. For example, you may have questions about your benefits or services. Before contacting them:
- Confirm your verification was successful
- Confirm you shared your information with the organization
- Review our best practices and sample messages of how to request help from the organization you need to access