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US Appeals Court Clears Perplexity AI Agents to Shop on Amazon

3 reports · First detected 2026-08-05 · Last active 2026-08-07

Amazon sued Perplexity AI in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Nov. 4, 2025, alleging that the Comet browser’s AI agent covertly entered customers’ password-protected accounts and shopped on their behalf in violation of the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The dispute is an early test of whether online platforms can bar user-selected AI agents, with implications for agentic commerce, competition and control of customer data. A federal judge granted Amazon a preliminary injunction on March 9, 2026.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the preliminary injunction on Aug. 4, 2026, finding that Amazon had not shown it was likely to prevail and that the relevant access was initiated by users rather than Perplexity itself. The ruling allows Comet’s shopping agent to continue accessing Amazon while the underlying lawsuit proceeds; it does not resolve the case on the merits. Perplexity welcomed the decision and said it would keep defending users’ right to choose the AI tools they want.

All Coverage

3 original reports
PYMNTS.COM 2026-08-07
Ninth Circuit Narrows CFAA Reach in Perplexity Agentic Commerce Ruling
DECRYPT.CO 2026-08-06
Perplexity Wins Appeal Against Amazon in AI Agent Shopping Lawsuit
PYMNTS.COM 2026-08-05
Appeals Court Overturns Ban on Perplexity AI Shopping Agents on Amazon

The Backstory

The history behind this event
Amazon Wins Injunction Temporarily Blocking Perplexity AI Agent From Shopping on Its Site2026-04-04 · 6 reports · similarity 0.91

The dispute between Amazon and Perplexity centers on the boundaries of agentic commerce, including whether users may authorize Comet to log into their accounts and make purchases without the platform’s consent. Amazon sued in November 2025, alleging that Comet concealed its identity as a machine and accessed protected systems without authorization. The ruling could shape the future of third-party AI agents, platform control and consumer data security.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney of the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction on March 9, 2026, finding that Amazon was likely to prove unauthorized access. The order barred Comet from making purchases through password-protected accounts and required it to delete data it had obtained. The injunction was later stayed pending appeal. Perplexity asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 1 to vacate the order, and Amazon must respond by April 22.

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