Patent claims are supposed to be clear so that a competitor of the patent owner can reliably know whether or not its competing product infringes upon a patent.

If a competitor’s product contains each and every element recited in a claim, it literally infringes upon that patent claim. If even one element is not present in the competitor’s product, the product does not literally infringe upon that patent claim.

So if a claim says that element A is connected to one of elements B, C, D and E, is there literal infringement if element A is connected to both elements B and C; i.e., element A is connected to not one but two of the specified elements?

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