Largan Precision Co., Ltd. v. Motorola Mobility LLC

N OTE : This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
LARGAN PRECISION CO., LTD.,
Appellant
v.
MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC,
Appellee
______________________
2024-1468
______________________
Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in No. IPR2022-
01022.
______________________
Decided: July 21, 2025
______________________
KEVIN R USSELL, Russell & Woofter LLC, Washington,
DC, argued for appellant. Also represented by DANIEL
WOOFTER ; R OBERT P ARRISH FREEMAN, J R ., Maschoff Bren-
nan P.L.L.C., Park City, UT.
A NDREW M. MASON, Klarquist Sparkman, LLP, Port-
land, OR, argued for appellee. Also represented by SARAH
E LISABETH J ELSEMA , F RANK MORTON-P ARK, J OHN D.
V ANDENBERG.
______________________
Case: 24-1468 Document: 45 Page: 1 Filed: 07/21/2025

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LARGAN PRECISION CO., LTD. v. MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC 2
Before P ROST, C LEVENGER , and CUNNINGHAM , Circuit
Judges.
P ROST, Circuit Judge.
Largan Precision Co., Ltd. (“Largan”) appeals from a
final written decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
(“Board”) in an inter partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent
No. 8,514,499 (“the ’499 patent”) determining all chal-
lenged claims unpatentable. J.A. 1–79. For the reasons set
forth below, we affirm.
B ACKGROUND
The ’499 patent is titled “Optical Image Capturing
Lens Assembly.” ’499 patent Title (capitalization normal-
ized). It “relates to a compact optical image capturing lens
assembly applicable to electronic products.” Id. at col. 1
ll. 14–16. Claim 15 recites:
15. An optical image capturing lens assembly com-
prising, in order from an object side to an image
side:
a first lens element with positive refractive power
having a convex object-side surface;
a second lens element with negative refractive
power;
a third lens element with refractive power;
a fourth lens element with refractive power;
a fifth lens element with positive refractive power
made of plastic material, wherein an object-side
surface and an image-side surface of the fifth lens
element are aspheric; and
a sixth lens element with negative refractive power
made of plastic material and having a concave im-
age-side surface, wherein an object-side surface
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LARGAN PRECISION CO., LTD. v. MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC 3
and the image-side surface of the sixth lens ele-
ment are aspheric, and the sixth lens element has
at least one inflection point formed on at least one
of the object-side surface and the image-side sur-
face thereof;
wherein the first through sixth lens elements are
six independent and non-cemented lens elements,
a focal length of the optical image capturing lens
assembly is f, an entrance pupil diameter of the op-
tical image capturing lens assembly is EPD, a dis-
tance perpendicular to the optical axis between a
non-axial critical point on the image-side surface of
the sixth lens element and the optical axis is Yc,
and a distance perpendicular to the optical axis be-
tween the maximum effective diameter position
and the optical axis is Yd, the following relation-
ships are satisfied:
1.5<f/EPD<2.5: and
0.2<Yc/Yd<0.9.
Id. at claim 15.
In 2022, Motorola Mobility LLC (“Motorola”) petitioned
for IPR of independent claim 15 and dependent claim 18 of
the ’499 patent. J.A. 2. The Board determined the chal-
lenged claims unpatentable for obviousness over Korean
Patent Publication No. KR 10-2011-0024872 (“KR872”).
J.A. 8 n.5, 77. In addressing the claim limitation
“1.5<f/EPD<2.5,” the Board agreed with the parties that
although KR872 does not specify the value of the relation-
ship f/EPD, also known as “f-number,” a person of ordinary
skill in the art (“POSA”) would have known that KR872’s
lens system has an f-number. J.A. 28. The Board also
agreed with the parties that KR872’s lens system has an f-
number of about three to four. J.A. 28–29. The Board
found that a POSA designing a lens system in view of
KR872 would have been motivated to use a lower f-number
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LARGAN PRECISION CO., LTD. v. MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC 4
(and one within the claimed range) with a reasonable ex-
pectation of success. J.A. 29. The Board reached similar
conclusions about the “1.7<f/EPD<2.2” limitation in claim
18. J.A. 49. The Board thus determined all challenged
claims unpatentable for obviousness over KR872.
Largan timely appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28
U.S.C. § 1295(a)(4)(A).
DISCUSSION
Obviousness is a question of law based on underlying
findings of fact. Novartis AG v. Torrent Pharms. Ltd.,
853 F.3d 1316, 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2017). These “subsidiary
factual findings are reviewed for substantial evidence.” Id.
“Whether a person of ordinary skill in the art would have
been motivated to modify or combine teachings in the prior
art, and whether he would have had a reasonable expecta-
tion of success, are questions of fact.” Regents of Univ. of
Cal. v. Broad Inst., Inc., 903 F.3d 1286, 1291 (Fed. Cir.
2018) (quoting In re Stepan Co., 868 F.3d 1342, 1346 (Fed.
Cir. 2017)). “Where two different conclusions may be war-
ranted based on the evidence of record, the Board’s decision
to favor one conclusion over the other is the type of decision
that must be sustained by this court as supported by sub-
stantial evidence.” In re Chudik, 851 F.3d 1365, 1371 (Fed.
Cir. 2017) (quoting In re Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, 488 F.3d
960, 970 (Fed. Cir. 2007)).
On appeal, Largan challenges the Board’s finding that
a POSA would have been motivated to modify KR872 with
a lower f-number with a reasonable expectation of success.
Appellant’s Br. 26. We reject Largan’s challenge.
Substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding that
a POSA would have been motivated to modify KR872 with
an f-number within the claimed range with a reasonable
expectation of success. First, the Board credited the testi-
mony of Motorola’s expert, Dr. Milster, that a POSA would
have been motivated to use a lower f-number to allow more
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LARGAN PRECISION CO., LTD. v. MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC 5
light into the lens system to provide better images in high-
action and low-light settings. J.A. 29 (citing J.A. 442 ¶ 69;
466–67 ¶¶ 118, 121). The Board also credited Dr. Milster’s
testimony that it was known that lower f-numbers were de-
sirable for high-action photography and to improve perfor-
mance in low-light conditions “as this testimony is
supported by the prior art.” J.A. 29 (citing J.A. 467 ¶¶ 122–
23).
Second, the Board found persuasive Dr. Milster’s testi-
mony that a POSA would have had a reasonable expecta-
tion of success in modifying KR872’s multi-lens system
with an f-number within the claimed range. J.A. 29–31.
The Board found Dr. Milster’s testimony that f-numbers as
low as 1.5 were well known in the art supported by exam-
ples of prior art multi-lens systems, including a six-lens
system, with f-numbers in the claimed range. J.A. 30 (cit-
ing J.A. 467 ¶ 123). The Board also noted that it was
known as desirable for cell phone cameras to have an f-
number between two and three. J.A. 30. The Board fur-
ther credited Dr. Milster’s testimony, supported by prior
art examples, that multi-lens systems such as KR872 were
inherently capable of supporting low f-numbers. J.A. 33
(citing J.A. 467–68 ¶ 124, 6817–18 ¶ 18).
Accordingly, substantial evidence supports the Board’s
finding that a POSA would have been motivated to modify
KR872’s lens system to have an f-number within the
claimed range with a reasonable expectation of success.1
1 Given our ruling, we need not reach the Board’s al-
ternative finding concerning obvious to try, J.A. 34–46, or
Largan’s arguments regarding the same.
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LARGAN PRECISION CO., LTD. v. MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC 6
C ONCLUSION
We have considered Largan’s remaining arguments
and find them unpersuasive. For the foregoing reasons, we
affirm.
AFFIRMED
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