TEAS Plus vs Trademark Center: What Changed and How to File Now

If you learned trademark filing on TEAS, or you are reading older advice about choosing between TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard, that choice no longer exists. On January 18, 2025, the USPTO replaced both TEAS application options with a single base application fee of $350 per class, plus surcharges for applications that are incomplete or use custom wording. New applications are now filed in Trademark Center, the USPTO's newer filing system.

This guide maps the old TEAS Plus rules onto today's surcharges, walks through filing in Trademark Center, and lists which filings are still in TEAS until the move finishes in spring 2027.

What changed on January 18, 2025

TEAS (the Trademark Electronic Application System) used to offer two application forms. TEAS Plus cost $250 per class, a reduced fee for applicants who supplied a full list of required information and chose their goods and services wording from the ID Manual (the USPTO's list of pre-approved descriptions of goods and services). TEAS Standard cost $350 per class and had fewer up-front requirements; the ID Manual requirement applied only to TEAS Plus. A TEAS Plus application that fell short of its requirements owed an extra $100 per class processing fee.

The USPTO's fiscal year 2025 fee rule replaced both options with one base application for applications under Sections 1 and 44 of the Trademark Act (based on use, intent to use, or a foreign application or registration). Filed online, it costs $350 per class, plus $100 per class if required information is missing, $200 per class for goods and services wording not picked from the ID Manual inside the form (called free-form text), and $200 for each additional 1,000 characters beyond the first 1,000 in a class with free-form text. Madrid applications that reach the USPTO through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under Section 66(a) pay $600 per class (if received on or after February 18, 2025) and no surcharges.

Since that same day, Trademark Center has been where new applications are filed. The USPTO calls it "the only way you can apply to register your trademark."

TEAS Plus vs Trademark Center at a glance

How the old TEAS Plus requirements map onto today's surcharges

The base application requirements are in 37 CFR 2.22(a), a list of 20 items. Items 1 through 19 generally correspond with the old TEAS Plus requirements. The USPTO's Examination Guide 1-25 says it judges whether you made "a reasonable attempt" at those items "in the same manner as the former corresponding TEAS Plus filing requirements." TEAS Plus habits still apply; what changed is the price of each kind of miss.

Items 1 through 19 lead to the $100 insufficient information fee. They include the applicant's name and domicile address (its permanent legal residence or principal place of business), legal entity, citizenship or place of organization, a filing basis, a signed verified statement, a translation of any non-English wording, a color claim if color is part of the mark, and, for an applicant domiciled outside the United States, a designated U.S.-licensed attorney. The $100 matches the old TEAS Plus processing fee.

Item 20 leads to the $200 free-form text fee. It requires correctly classified goods and services "from the Office's Acceptable Identification of Goods and Services Manual within the electronic form." The character surcharge is new; TEAS had no equivalent.

Six rules are worth knowing, all from Examination Guide 1-25 and the USPTO's additional fees page:

1. Fixing a gap later does not avoid the fee. A correction made after filing and before examination "will not avoid a requirement for an applicable additional fee."
2. The insufficient information fee can arrive later. If it is not charged at filing and the examining attorney finds required information missing or "clearly inappropriate" (the guide's example is "???"), the attorney must issue an Office Action requiring the fee. It applies to every active class at that point, even if you delete classes afterward.
3. Pasting ID Manual wording into the free-form box still counts as free-form.
4. One free-form entry triggers the fee for every class. Once you enter free-form text anywhere, the $200 fee "will be assessed for every class in the application." The guide notes you may file a separate application for classes that use only ID Manual entries.
5. Misusing a fill-in-the-blank ID Manual entry, such as leaving the blank empty, also triggers the free-form fee, and this can be charged during examination.
6. Every character in the class counts. In a class with any free-form text, the count includes "text, punctuation, spaces, and any ID Manual entries in that class." The character fee is charged at filing only, and only for classes with free-form text.

The arithmetic, worked out

Per class, at filing:

Examination Guide 1-25 gives a two-class example: Classes 9 and 25, free-form text only in Class 9, each class 1,050 characters. The total at filing is $1,300: $700 in base fees, $400 in free-form fees (both classes, because of rule 4), and $200 in character fees (Class 9 only, because Class 25 has only ID Manual entries). If the examining attorney later finds "XXX" entered as the entity type, the applicant owes another $200 in insufficient information fees. For more ways to avoid surcharges, see our USPTO fee changes guide and our ID Manual guide.

How filing a new application works in Trademark Center

1. Log in with your own USPTO.gov account, verified and protected by two-step authentication.
2. Start the application. For marks with design elements, Trademark Center can suggest a mark description and color claim using AI. Review any suggestion.
3. Pick goods and services from the ID Manual inside Trademark Center. If you use the free-form text box, it shows a character count at the bottom.
4. Read the additional fee acknowledgement box. Trademark Center shows it when you leave out required information or use free-form text, and you must check it to continue. You can supply the information now with no fee, or pay the fee and supply it later.
5. Sign. Signatures "are non-delegable," so a paralegal cannot sign an attorney's name. A represented trademark owner currently does not need a verified account to electronically sign forms the attorney sends.
6. Pay. All fees assessed at filing must be paid before the application can be submitted. For new applications, the USPTO accepts a credit or debit card or a USPTO deposit account. A submission counts as filed on the date the USPTO receives it, in Eastern Time.
7. Track it. Applications filed in Trademark Center appear in its docket. TSDR still holds the full public record.

About draft sharing. Attorneys can share drafts with their sponsored support staff, and with other attorneys once connected as associated attorneys in the USPTO's sponsorship tool. Only verified users connected to you this way can open a shared draft link, and "only one person can view or edit at a time." Attorneys may not sponsor clients, so draft sharing is not a client-review tool. The client's part is signing.

What has moved to Trademark Center, and what is still in TEAS

The USPTO is gradually moving filings from TEAS to Trademark Center. Each form is available in both systems for two to three months before it is retired in TEAS, and the USPTO plans for the transition to be complete in spring 2027. Status as of October 12, 2026:

This changes month to month, so check the USPTO's Trademark Center updates and training page before filing anything other than a new application. For maintenance deadlines, see our Section 8 and 9 guide. On Office Actions, see Refusals 101.

Practical steps for a firm

1. Give every person their own account. The USPTO says each USPTO.gov account "must correspond to a single person" and that "Company accounts are not currently allowed."
2. Verify identities well before any deadline. The self-service online option through ID.me typically takes less than 15 minutes. The notarized paper route takes two to three weeks. The USPTO says it cannot make exceptions to statutory deadlines for accounts that were not verified in time.
3. Choose roles carefully. U.S.-licensed attorneys take the attorney role, which lets them sponsor paralegals and support staff. Since January 20, 2024, support staff must verify their own identity and be sponsored by each attorney they work for. Attorneys cannot sponsor other attorneys. A role is locked after verification; changing it takes an email request. User roles have existed since 2022. Connect attorneys who share work as associated attorneys in the sponsorship tool.
4. Update your intake checklist. Collect every 2.22(a) item from the client before drafting, and plan goods and services around ID Manual entries. Where free-form wording is unavoidable, consider a separate application so the $200 fee does not reach classes that use only ID Manual entries.
5. Warn clients about account scams. An attorney must have their own account and does not need the client's: "If they tell you otherwise, they are likely a scammer." See our guide to trademark scams.

After you file

USPTO rules make applicants responsible for checking the status of an application at least every six months between filing and registration (37 CFR 2.23(d)). GleanMark watches your marks and alerts you to new filings and status changes. Alerts for status changes and Office Actions usually arrive by the next business day. For the full process, see our step-by-step trademark guide.