I don't know why you would say this but this is simply not true. Our confidential information was leaked, there is an incoming lawsuit, and we are trying to find the right course of action. The government department was tarred the moment they leaked our application to our competitor.
You mean that they might start filing for patents now, based on the contents of our grant application? That's something we hadn't considered as a possibility. :-/
Yes, you have to think in a defensive manner. You should also get a court order compelling the grant people to tell you who saw your info and whether or not they have their vetters sign an NDA. A signed NDA may be a valuable factor in any signed litigation if they saw your data and made a patent application (disclosed info they agreed in writing not to disclose).
It is not clear at this point. To the best of my knowledge, there is no relevant patent for our so-far activities. Selling like crazy is good advice and we are going to do exactly that. :-)
I would say the title "Research Engineer" could fit quite well based on what you describe!