Hal is passed, so if Phil knew it were him, Phil would have likely used the past tense (like he was when he was speaking about Hal instead of Satoshi).
He "respects" only 3 people in this interview. One is Satoshi, and one is nostr:npub12qz56plzehejkyp4waaannmnny4y4c30j8q55a3wlk49haslga2snypdx8 (at the end, very cordial, etc.)
Interesting take though for the third guy. Patents? Hmmm... 🤔