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Hello everyone. My name is Dave Krebiehl and I am the VP of R&D for MTH. My name can be found on the DCS patents as well as most others held by MTH. I am the person primarily responsible for overseeing the development of our DCS and ProtoSound 2.0 systems. Please do not misunderstand these statements as arrogance or patting myself on the back, I just want you to know the basis for my perspective. Actually, I can only accept a portion of the credit for DCS. I simply had the privilege to coordinate the ideas and marry them with technology. I have been reading the posts following Andy Edleman’s explanation of MTH’s position, goals, and intentions and frankly, I too now have a headache, as someone else put it. After a break and some Tylenol, I feel compelled to make a statement. I agree with many of you that venom, insults, threats, and the like are counter productive. After all, we are discussing model trains here, right? I will try to adopt a tone of discussion opposed to argument. First of all, MTH developed the DCS system in order to provide our O gauge customers with a command control solution other than TMCC. Even if we were interested in licensing TMCC at the time, you can imagine the terms may not have been favorable. We studied DCC and decided that for the features we wanted, it was not a feasible solution. For example, you cannot stream Christmas music down the rails and through your train via DCC. While this is clearly not a true model railroading feature, it was important to us in order to market starter trains to non-train enthusiasts. We, as a manufacturer, must always strive to expand this great hobby. After spending years and millions of dollars developing DCS, MTH decided to utilize the system in other scales as we expand. First, we offered DCS in No. 1 gauge models in January of this year. Most customers enjoy even the simplest automatic features offered by DCS in conventional mode. We define conventional mode as AC or DC only operation. That is, no digital signals. When we decided to continue to grow our business and enter the HO market, it was an obvious and natural choice to utilize our investment in DCS. Knowing full well that most of those running HO models in command mode (digital control) use DCC, we deliberately included a level of DCC compatibility in the design. Prospective MTH HO customers can enjoy running our models in conventional (DC only), DCC, and DCS modes. We aren’t forcing anyone to operate in any one of these protocols. We are simply offering the customers a choice. They can determine for themselves which is best suited for their interests. As for out patents, most manufacturing companies that develop technology do so for profit. We would be fooli***o invest the resources and not take steps to protect our investment. Protecting our investment doesn’t mean suppressing others that want to develop new and innovative products. There were an awful lot of patents out there before we developed DCS. We listed more than 80 of them as references on our original DCS patent application. These patents did not prevent us from developing the system however, they shaped the way in which we did it. Our notifying various manufacturers that out patents exist is standard legal protocol and was done at the insistence of our patent attorneys. This was not intended to be a threat and should not be perceived as one today. If someone blatantly infringes on technology we feel is proprietary and diminishes the value of our investment, of course we have to consider the best course of action. This doesn’t have to mean litigation. When I set out to write this post, I told myself to be brief, to the point, and not write a book. Apparently, I have failed. I apologize for the long-winded statement however, there is probably even more that needs to be said. As a preemptive measure against those who may criticize me for not replying regularly to subsequent posts, let me just say that we are very busy developing HO DCS. Please do not take my inability to engage with the forum in ongoing discussions as rude or uninterested. I will continue to read your comments and take your viewpoints to heart. I hope that some of you with concerns can at least see our point of view even if you don't agree with it. Please be patient and try not to jump to conclusions about what we will or will not due. We are forging our way into this new territory with the objective to earn customers, not alienate them. Best regards, Dave
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