Appeal No. 2001-2649
Application No. 09/358,926
deliberateness, and precision. In re Paulson, 30 F.3d 1475,
1480, 31 USPQ2d 1671, 1674 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
"[T]he terms used in the claims bear a 'heavy presumption'
that they mean what they say and have the ordinary meaning that
would be attributed to those words by persons skilled in the
relevant art." Texas Digital Sys., Inc. v. Telegenix, Inc.,
308 F.3d 1193, 1201-02, 64 USPQ 1812, 1818 (Fed. Cir. 2002).
"Moreover, the intrinsic record also must be examined in every
case to determine whether the presumption of ordinary and
customary meaning is rebutted." (citation omitted). "Indeed,
the intrinsic record may show that the specification uses the
words in a manner clearly inconsistent with the ordinary meaning
reflected, for example, in a dictionary definition. In such a
case, the inconsistent dictionary definition must be rejected."
Texas Digital Sys., Inc. 308 F.3d at 1201-02, 64 USPQ at 1818.
Our decision hinges upon what is meant by a conductive
hollow internally threaded female connector member integral with
a conductive end terminal and housing the bullet-shaped wire
splaying member. Appellant's specification states "[a]s shown in
Figure 4, the female connector member 12' may be formed
integrally with the conductive bullet-shaped member 11' and end
terminal 10'."
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