The patents in question cover some critical behind-the-scenes tech that helps keep virtual machines running smoothly, according to the lawsuit filed in a California federal court.

Video streaming giant Netflix Inc. is suing Broadcom Inc. over virtual machine patents owned by the company’s subsidiary VMware Inc. According to the lawsuit filed with a California federal court by Netflix Monday, the company said VMware’s cloud software infringes on five patents related to virtual machines.

Netflix has filed a lawsuit against Broadcom. According to the streaming service, VMware infringes on virtual machine patents. Netflix claims to have

Netflix is suing Broadcom over patent infringement a few years after Broadcom sued Netflix for similar reasons.

Alleging patent infringement connected to virtual machine operations, Netflix ( NFLX, Financials) has sued Broadcom's ( AVGO, Financials) VMware. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit focuses on allegations that VMware's vSphere program violates Netflix's technology.

Netflix has filed a lawsuit against VMware, a subsidiary of Broadcom, claiming that the company has infringed on five of its patents related to virtual machine operations. The lawsuit, submitted to a California federal court,

Netflix claims Broadcom's subsidiary VMware is in violation of five patents It claims VMware knew it was violating patents for more than a decade Netflix is now demanding VMware pays for damages caused Video streaming behemoth Netflix is suing Broadcom over virtual machine (VM) patents.