UP NEXT: CISCO - (CNET) ConnecTel, a small Florida company is suing networking giant Cisco Systems for allegedly infringing on four of its patents.

ConnecTel claims that Cisco is using routing technology developed by its founder, Allen Kaplan, who filed for the patents in 1996. The company filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas, on Tuesday.

Specifically, ConnecTel is accusing Cisco of stealing its intelligent data routing technology, which chooses the best data path and transmission method for packets based on multiple factors, including bandwidth, availability, security and the user's priority. ConnecTel has never manufactured products using its technology. Instead, it has licensed the technology to several unnamed companies, according to Daniel Perez, an attorney with Winstead Sechrest & Minick in Dallas, who is representing ConnecTel.

ConnecTel claims in its complaint that it offered Cisco a chance to license the technology several years ago, but that Cisco rejected the offer. Later, Cisco used the technology in its own products, according to the suit.

ConnecTel is seeking unspecified damages and an injunction to stop the alleged infringement. Perez said he expects damages to be in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.