A California company on Thursday filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft, claiming the software maker is infringing on the company's technology for building a virtual private network.

VirnetX said in a brief statement that it filed the federal suit in Tyler, Texas.

Neither VirnetX nor Microsoft was immediately available for comment on the suit.

According to its filing, VirnetX claims Microsoft has infringed on two patents. One relates to a method of establishing a secure communication link in a VPN. The other relates to "a method and system of transparently creating" a VPN.

VirnetX is seeking damages and a court injunction preventing Microsoft from continuing with the alleged infringement. The Chicago law firm McDermott Will & Emery represents VirnetX.

Microsoft's Internet Security and Acceleration Server is used in building VPNs. However, VirnetX wasn't clear which Microsoft product infringes on its patents.