Is it a good idea to file a provisional patent?

You can't patent an idea. You can patent an implementation of a novel idea that satisfies various strict criteria (must a new idea, must not have already been disclosed anywhere by you or anyone else, must be capable of 'industrial application', must not be obvious .. that sort of stuff).

You don't get protection until a patent is granted and that can take a long time and costs a lot of money.

Patents are territorial, so you need a patent in every country where you want your invention to be protected. You will need to use a patent attorney. They are expensive but they are worth it. Well, strictly speaking, you don't have to if you have the relevant skills but, if you had the relevant skills, you would already earning a fortune as a patent attorney and wouldn't have asked this question.

To save yourself a lot of expense and grief, talk to a patent attorney before you do anything else - not an High Street attorney. Expect to pay a few hundred pounds for some initial advice. It is worth it as they can save you ££ thousands in wasted effort.

Disclosing your idea to a patent attorney is allowed. It doesn't count as disclosure that would stop you being able to get a patent. It is privileged disclosure.

Before disclosing your idea to anyone else, get them to sign a confidentiality agreement (also called a non-disclosure agreement). You can often find outline agreements on-line free of charge. I advise against them. A suitable agreement needs to be customised in four of five places and it has to be right. It is a job for an intellectual property specialist. I have seen some truly abysmal confidentiality agreements, some even giving away all the secrets before the other party even signed to keep it secret. Disclosure under a confidentiality agreement does not stop you getting a patent.

If you fail to get a patent, a confidentiality agreement may be all the protection you have for your idea. I have concluded a licensing deal on some technology that turned out not to be patentable. The other party thought they were free to use the technology because there was no patent but, since they had signed a confidentiality agreement, they were not free to use what they knew without permission. A lot of confidentiality agreements I have seen were so badly written, they could have got away with it.

Here is a link to the UK Patent Office site that will tell you far more than I ever could: https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/pat...