MSR publish a lot but try to get patents on potentially valuable research first.

Like literally any research organization or university anywhere today.

Which only makes an organization like YC Research even more valuable of an experiment.

FWIW, as a researcher at a university, it is only my decision whether I apply for a patent or not. In contrast, patenting inventions is an inherent part of the research workflow at research labs such as MSR, Yahoo Research, etc.

MSR publishes continuously, both in journals and in white papers. It is part of the evaluation.

(Source: I work at MSR)

In my experience, MSR researchers publish openly just like people in "regular" academia. I think the main difference is that they are better paid.

But who gets to own the IP ?

MS