Apple, Google, HP, Dell, IBM, JCPenny, Bank of America, and 29 other companies have been slammed with a new lawsuit yesterday. The lawsuit claims that these companies used technologies that were patented by InNova Patent Licensing which helped differentiate between legitimate and spam email messages. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall.

The federal lawsuit focuses on a revolutionary InNova patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,018,761, that covers technology used to differentiate between spam email messages and those that users actually want to receive. The InNova patent was awarded to inventor and mathematician Robert Uomini nearly 15 years ago when Internet email was still in its formative stages. Mr. Uomini is the founder of InNova.

Patent-infringement attorney Christopher Banys, lead counsel for InNova, says the company's patent is one of the building blocks for all email communications. InNova's complaint alleges that the defendant companies have used InNova's invention without permission for years.

"Email as we know it would essentially stop working if it weren't for InNova's invention," says Mr. Banys, who leads The Lanier Law Firm's national intellectual property practice. "More than 80 percent of email is spam, which is why companies use InNova's invention rather than forcing employees to wade through billions of useless emails. Unfortunately, the defendants appear to be profiting from this invention without any consideration for InNova's legal patent rights."

Here's the full list of companies being sued:

  • Apple
  • JC Penny
  • Google
  • 3Com Corporation
  • Alcatel-Lucent Holding, Inc.
  • American International Group, Inc.
  • AOL, Inc.
  • Bank of America Corporation
  • Capital One Auto Finance, Inc.
  • Capital One Financial Corporation
  • Cinemark, Inc.
  • Cinemark Holdings, Inc.
  • Citigroup, Inc.
  • Crossmark, Inc.
  • Dell, Inc.
  • Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
  • Ericsson, Inc.
  • Frito-Lay, Inc.
  • Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
  • Hewlett-Packard Company
  • HP Enterprise Services, LLC
  • International Business Machines Corporation
  • J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.
  • J.C. Penney Life Insurance Company
  • J.C. Penney Mexico, Inc.
  • J.C. Penney Reinsurance Company
  • JCP Publications Corp.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • McAfee, Inc.
  • Perot Systems Corporation
  • Rent-A-Center, Inc.
  • Research in Motion Corporation
  • Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software, Inc.
  • Symantec Corporation
  • Wells Fargo & Company
  • Yahoo!, Inc.

It is still unknown how these companies used the patents in their products, and what InNova is seeking in damages. Surprisingly, Microsoft is no where to be found on that list.