DI History

Demonstratives, Inc. (DI) is formed

Demonstratives, Inc. (DI) was formed on January 1, 2001, when UGS sold EAI's litigation animation division to key former EAI managers.  DI has continued the pioneering spirit of innovation in dispute graphics and scientific visualization that started a few miles away on the Iowa State University campus and thrived at EAI.   The capabilities of DI's staff and tools continue to expand as we provide a broad range of visual scientific support to clients with complicated litigation matters.  DI continues to occupy a unique space within the legal graphics industry with remarkable engineering and scientific expertise, significant trial, hearing, mediation and arbitration experience and an unparalleled track record in the legal graphics world.  DI has been involved in many notable cases including:

• KSR v. Teleflex – Landmark unanimous U.S. Supreme Court case on obviousness regarding patent claims. The U.S. Solicitor General noted, "[The] petitioner has supplied an animation that helpfully illustrates the point."
• Sprint v. Vonage– $80 million settlement for DI client Sprint. Jurors said that DI's animated tutorial made Sprint's patent claims easy to understand.
• Affymetrix v. Illumina – $90 million settlement for DI client Affymetrix. DI’s graphics helped Affymetrix show that Illumina infringed several of its patents.

View previous cases

Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) was established

Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) was created in 1987 by Dr. Jim Bernard and Dr. Marty Vanderploeg to commercialize on proprietary animation and simulation software developed in conjunction with Iowa State University. The company's initial focus was the creation of physically accurate animations of complex engineering systems for use as demonstrative evidence in the courtroom. EAI rapidly grew to become the industry leader in this new field and represented the industry standard during its corporate lifetime. EAI went public in 1996 and was ultimately purchased by Unigraphics Solutions (UGS) in 2000. EAI alumni have gone on to careers at such notable companies as Pixar, Disney, and DreamWorks.

DI’s history is firmly rooted in VRAC and Iowa State University

The use of 3D animation in litigation started in the late 1980's and was inspired by the vision of two Iowa State University professors, Dr. Jim Bernard and Dr. Marty Vanderploeg.  Both were professors in the MechanicalEngineering College at ISU and founding members of the university’sVirtual Reality Applications Center. As experienced experts in ground vehicle litigation, they were often frustrated with the difficulties of accurately conveying complicated concepts without the use of sophisticated visual aids. This led to their development software specifically designed for the litigation industry. Drs. Bernard and Vanderploeg strived to create scientifically accurate representations of actual events for the courtroom.