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.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
