For those that avoid acronyms like Perez Hilton’s blog, DVS stands for Digital Vinyl System. Aka Final Scratch, Serato Scratch, Traktor Scratch, Butt Scratch, Back Scratch and anything else that ends in Scratch that may interface with a computer. Mr. Kirn of CDM has unearthed this very interesting story about our friends at NI who apparently settled a law suit in favor of the reported owners of one type of digital scratch technology. Wait a moment, I thought Riz invented that? Well apparently not according to this article in Create Digital Music:
Native Instruments acknowledges the validity of patents held by N2IT, and has now fully licensed their usage worldwide for its TRAKTOR SCRATCH digital DJ system and related products.
The patents held by N2IT relate to general principles of digital music playback using time-code records, which are being utilized in TRAKTOR SCRATCH as well as in other manufacturers’ digital DJ systems with time-code control
In response to the question posed by the subject of this article, the answer appears to be a team behind the original Final Scratch. They later joined forces up with Stanton who supplied the hardware and then NI which delivered the software side of the Final Scratch 1.1 release. Its that relationship that has apparently gotten Native Instruments into hot water, as they have been accused of using insider information to build their own DVS platform after they parted ways with Stanton in 2006. What does this mean for the other DVS manufactures? Well, it certainly appears they may be infringing on the original patent but it remains to be seen if the patent holders will go after these other companies as well. Midi controllers might start looking a lot more attractive to the big boys in the near future, good news for Dj Tech Tools.
