The order matters. He was a professor first (did the publishing) and then founded the companies second.  So there are really two questions:<p>(1) When he was a professor, would he have still published the work even if he couldn&#x27;t patent and profit from it later?  My assertion: Yes, he probably would&#x27;ve still published.<p>(2) Would he have founded MIPS (and made it successful) w&#x2F;o the patents?  I don&#x27;t know, but that was beyond the scope of my claims. ;)  Or perhaps: If he hadn&#x27;t patented it, but just published... then would other companies have picked up his technology (for free) and integrated it into their products, resulting in a net win for society anyway?