US Ninth Circuit Revokes Amazon Injunction Against Perplexity AI Shopping Tool

The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled to lift a preliminary injunction that barred Perplexity's AI shopping tool from accessing Amazon's platform. The court determined that access to Amazon was performed by users of the Comet browser with the assistance of AI-enabled tools, rather than by Perplexity itself, and that Amazon therefore cannot establish that Perplexity's agent violated the U. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The ruling marks the first time a federal appellate court has addressed whether AI agents acting on behalf of users may lawfully access online platforms.

The dispute began in November 2025, when Amazon sued Perplexity, alleging that it used the Comet browser and related AI agents to access private customer accounts surreptitiously and place orders on users' behalf. In March 2026, the U. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction barring Perplexity from employing AI agents on Amazon's platform. The appellate ruling establishes a rule of liability allocation: where an AI company's servers do not directly interact with a third party's servers, responsibility rests with the user, with the AI company serving as the tool provider. As agentic AI is an emerging technology, the legal understanding of it will continue to evolve alongside technological developments.