A federal appeals court has overturned an order that blocked Perplexity’s AI shopping tools on Amazon, giving the startup an early win in a case that could shape how autonomous AI agents are allowed to interact with online platforms.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that Amazon is unlikely to succeed on its claim under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA, a federal anti-hacking law.
In the ruling, the court said that to prevail under the CFAA, a plaintiff must show that a defendant intentionally accessed a computer without authorization or exceeded authorized access, obtained information from a protected computer, and caused losses totaling at least $5,000 to one or more people during a one-year period.
The panel said it was Amazon’s users, not Perplexity, who accessed the platform through Comet, Perplexity’s agentic AI browser. According to the report, Comet can browse websites, log into accounts, and make purchases on a user’s behalf.
The dispute started in November
The fight began in November, when Amazon sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter before filing suit.
Amazon alleged that Comet disguised automated traffic as a standard web browser, violated the company’s terms of service, and accessed customer accounts without authorization.
Perplexity responded that Comet acts only with users’ permission, using credentials stored on their own devices. It also accused Amazon of trying to block consumer choice in AI assistants.
An earlier injunction has now been reversed
In March, a federal judge granted Amazon a preliminary injunction, finding that the company had produced strong evidence that Perplexity likely violated federal and California computer fraud laws by accessing password-protected Amazon accounts without Amazon’s permission.
That order temporarily stopped Comet from shopping on Amazon while the lawsuit moved ahead.
The broader case is still ongoing
The underlying lawsuit has not been resolved. Even so, the appellate ruling offers an early look at how courts may approach AI agents that act on behalf of users.