That’s the first time I hear of somebody afraid of a Patent clerk stealing their idea.
What if the patent attorney steals the idea, or the secretary making copies, or the design house, or the prototype maker, or maybe the product photographer…where does it stop?
Provided you get your product up and running would you be prepared for the Chinese factory telling you “we will copy your product if you bring it here?”. We had a client tell us that story.
Like it has been said. Do you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to sue another business? Are you prepared to fire your manufacturer and start from scratch just to have your product copied and sold under a different brand.
File your patent and make your product and deal with the punches as they come.