Usually you will need to tell certain other people about your invention, for example if you are trying to license, sell or find a manufacturer for the invention. If you want to do this before a patent application or other appropriate registration has been filed for the invention, it is essential that it is done in confidence.

Consult the technology transfer/commercialisation office of your institution at an early stage, as they are the people best placed to ensure that you get effective and timely protection for your idea. Where appropriate, they can also put a binding confidentiality agreement in place with the people or organisation that you need to talk to.

Even if a patent application has already been filed, it is still often desirable for the disclosure to be confidential because:

• The patent application itself is a confidential document until publication by the patent office (at 18 months), or until disclosed by the applicant
• You may want to disclose more information than is given in the patent application
• An obligation of confidentiality can set an appropriate tone for the commercial discussions

Premature public disclosure of an invention is probably the most common reason for applications to be rejected by the Patent Office. An invention that has been disclosed is no longer new, and so you will not be granted a patent or registered design protection if you have already disclosed it to the public. Until the potential for patenting has been properly explored, you should therefore avoid disclosure via academic publications, at conferences, in posters, emails, websites, letters, or in conversation with the press, media or anyone else - including colleagues in your own department. Any kind of disclosure at this stage must be accompanied by a clearly understood (and preferably documented) obligation of confidentiality.