Clairpath, LLC has sued Apple
(7:26-cv-00015) in the Western District of
Texas. Asserted are two patents received from Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd. this past
October as well as one additional patent, received from
Thinkware Systems Corporation (d/b/a
THINKWARE) in August 2025. The plaintiff targets
the provision of devices (e.g., computers, displays,
headsets, laptops, smartphones, smart watches, and tablets) that
incorporate image sensors, support the “Check In on
iPhone” feature, and/or implement wireless pairing.

Intellectual Discovery has several active litigation campaigns
in the US, including through plaintiffs SiliconArts Technology US Inc. (begun in March
2025 with a case against BOXX Technologies and
NVIDIA), TS-Optics Corporation (begun with a September
2024 suit against Microsoft), and KAIFI LLC (one begun in July 2024 against
Amazon and another begun in January 2026 against
Apple). In August 2025, in its first campaign, KAIFI sued
Alphabet (Google) and Apple,
disclosing that its corporate parent is Golden Wave Partners Co., Ltd., which has been
identified (in a 2018 audit report) as an Intellectual Discovery
subsidiary.

Intellectual Discovery is a sovereign fund in established by the
government of Korea in 2010. A fuller consideration of the
connections between Golden Wave, Intellectual Discovery, and South
Korean research institution Electronics and Telecommunications Research
Institute (ETRI), as well as of the past litigation activities
of Golden Wave Partners plaintiffs, including Sequoia Technology LLC and Throop, LLC, can be found at “2018 Patent Marketplace Trends: ETRI Continues Its
Attempts to Exclusively License Patent Assertion Entities“
(December 2018).

Clairpath was created in Texas on June 9, 2025. It has
identified to Texas that its manager is “WISEFIN” and
that Wisefin Co., Ltd., a Korean entity, is its
parent. SiliconArts has identified Yoonsang Jung as its director
and disclosed in court that WiseFin Inc. is the direct parent of
SiliconArts Technology (the Korean parent of the
plaintiff, SiliconArts Technology US). WiseFin is there identified
as a Korean entity wholly owned by ID. The precise connections
between “WISEFIN”, Wisefin Inc., and Wisefin Co., Ltd.,
if not the same entity, could be clearer. Wisefin Co., Ltd. is tied
to Value8 Co., Ltd., a plaintiff running an
automotive campaign.

Last October, RPX covered the transfer of 21 US
patents from Intellectual Discovery to Clairpath. That portfolio
generally relates to image sensors as well as navigation systems.
Clairpath now asserts two of those patents (8,129,809; 8,996,708) in the new case against Apple. In
December, RPX noted the August 2025 transfer of 21 other patents,
of similar subject matter, from THINKWARE to Clairpath. Clairpath
now assets one of those patents (8,483,948) against Apple. THINKWARE is a
provider of “location-based services and Smart Car IT in
Korea”.

Cicarelli Law Firm filed the case for Clairpath, over a
signature block that includes Steptoe LLP. The suit has been
assigned District Judge Alan D. Albright, who also presides over
the KAIFI case filed this past August against Apple. There, Apple
has answered the complaint. 1/14, Western District of Texas.

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