Netflix sues Broadcom's VMware over US virtual machine patents

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.

The lawsuit said VMware's cloud software infringes five Netflix patents covering aspects of operating virtual machines.

Broadcom and Netflix have been embroiled in a separate patent dispute since 2018 over Netflix's alleged infringement of Broadcom patents related to video streaming technology, with cases in California, Germany and the Netherlands. Broadcom's U.S. lawsuit against Netflix is scheduled to go to trial next June.


A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment on its new lawsuit. Spokespeople for Broadcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palo Alto, California-based Broadcom acquired VMware for $69 billion last year. Netflix's lawsuit said that VMware's vSphere virtualization platform for deploying and managing virtual machines infringes the streaming giant's patents related to virtual-machine communications.

Netflix asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages.

The case is Netflix Inc v. Broadcom Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:24-cv-09324.