Roger Hahn on AI-Powered Patent Law, Blockchain for IP, Why the Patent System Needs to Be Rebuilt

What happens when a patent attorney who got his wake-up call staring at a 47-page office action at 3 a.m. decides to teach himself Python, machine learning, and blockchain development — and then builds a proprietary AI called Abigail to handle the 70% of his work that delivered zero value to clients? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Roger Hahn, founder of Haunan Associates in Washington DC, about what it actually means to run a next-generation patent law firm, how he built an AI architecture that prevents hallucinations by design, why most attorneys using general-purpose AI are inadvertently destroying attorney-client privilege, and why Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are wrong about patents being dead. They also discuss the Dentons-style landmine problem of freedom to operate, how blockchain could turn patents into a licensing machine, what China was really doing in Shenzhen research parks 15 years ago, the new Project Glasswing from Anthropic and why a major infrastructure attack using AI is coming, and why the patent system doesn't need to be abolished — it just needs to be accelerated. Roger Hahn is the founder of Haunan Associates, a patent and IP law firm in Washington DC, and creator of Abigail, a proprietary AI system built for patent prosecution. He holds a JD, MBA from Columbia, and MS from Johns Hopkins. Connect with Roger Hahn: Haunan Associates Washington, DC Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Roger Hahn 01:04 The 3 a.m. office action that changed everything — and the birth of Abigail 03:16 How the name Abigail was born — Artificial BIG AI Lawyer 04:07 What pulled him into patent law from biomedical engineering 05:28 Five years at big firms, then hanging his own shingle in 2006 06:54 His first client — a Korean inventor who didn't know he didn't speak Korean 08:28 Patent trolls, submarine patents, and the freedom to operate problem 10:01 Willful infringement and treble damages — why FTO is a business survival tool 11:58 IBM Columbia Blockchain Accelerator and the licensing machine idea 14:41 Blockchain as a patent assignment and licensing ledger 16:08 Patenting DNA testing systems and building genomic deep learning classifiers 18:21 What his proprietary AI does that traditional patent software does not 20:15 Why general purpose AI hallucinations are catastrophic in patent prosecution 22:05 The architectural bifurcation that keeps Abigail's data layer pristine 24:22 Is Abigail a real product and how does the credit-based model work 26:41 Why he is the Antichrist of SaaS software 27:03 Who his AI product solves problems for and exactly what it automates 29:03 Why he pursued ISO 27001 — and the New York court ruling that killed privilege on LLMs 30:46 How opposing counsel finds out you used an LLM in discovery 32:19 Rapid fire questions 34:03 Project Glasswing, Anthropic's Methos model, and why a cyberattack using AI is coming 36:34 OpenClaw, AI-to-AI communication, and what was actually happening 43:39 Bitcoin or Ethereum — which still matters 45:14 What a typical client engagement looks like across corporate, startup, and solo inventors 49:52 The most common mistakes companies make with their IP portfolios 52:24 How to protect IP when selling into China — a story from a Shenzhen research park 56:19 Who Roger's ideal client is 59:23 Why patents are not cooked — and why the system just needs to be accelerated with AI #RogerHahn #HaunanAssociates #PatentLaw #AIPatentProsecution #BlockchainIP #FreedomToOperate #TrustcastShow #PatentAttorney #AbigailAI #NextGenerationLaw