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

Netflix sues Broadcom's cloud computing subsidiary VMware for patent infringement. Broadcom had previously filed a patent dispute against Netflix in 2018.

Netflix sued Broadcom in California federal court on Monday, accusing the chipmaker's cloud computing subsidiary VMware of violating its patent rights in "virtual machines" that run another computer's operating software on a host computer.