Federal Circuit holds that claim terms can be construed in reliance on their dictionary definition, when such construction is not inconsistent with the intrinsic evidence.

The Federal Circuit, in Masimo Corp. v. Sotera Wireless, Inc., 2022-1415 (Fed. Cir. 2023), reiterated that broad terms will be given their plain and ordinary meaning absent further explanation in the claim language or specification and can be construed based on a dictionary definition, so long as this is not contradicted by the intrinsic evidence. The Court has once again demonstrated its willingness to invalidate broad or ambiguous claim language. This presents a cautionary tale of pursuing the broadest claims allowable without including narrower alternatives that could withstand a post-grant challenge. [#7839663]