On August 4, 2026, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction that barred Perplexity AI's Comet shopping tool from Amazon's platform. The three-judge panel ruled that Amazon is unlikely to succeed on its Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims. The court determined that the users, rather than Perplexity AI itself, are the ones accessing Amazon's servers when utilizing the AI assistant. This landmark decision is the first federal appeals ruling on whether agentic AI tools can legally access online platforms on behalf of users.
Ninth Circuit reversal ruling
- ▪The Ninth Circuit panel, consisting of U.S. Circuit Judges Milan Smith Jr., Eric Tung, and District Judge John Hinderaker, vacated the preliminary injunction and remanded the case for further proceedings
- ▪The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on August 4, 2026, overturned a preliminary injunction that had temporarily barred Perplexity AI from using its AI-powered agentic shopping tools on Amazon's platform
CFAA access prong interpretation
- ▪The Ninth Circuit panel ruled that Amazon was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA)
- ▪The Ninth Circuit panel found that Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney erred in the "access" analysis under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)
User access versus company access
- ▪The Ninth Circuit panel stated that Perplexity AI receiving screenshots of a user's browser and communicating instructions to the AI assistant does not mean Perplexity AI itself has accessed Amazon's servers
- ▪The Ninth Circuit panel determined that Perplexity AI's Comet tool does not "access" Amazon's computers under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA); rather, it is the user who accesses Amazon's computers with the help of the AI assistant
AI shopping tool legality
- ▪The Ninth Circuit ruling is the first by a federal appeals court to address whether AI agents acting on behalf of users can legally access online platforms
- ▪The Ninth Circuit panel limited its ruling to the record before it and noted that the decision does not establish a new legal regime governing agentic AI
Amazon Perplexity lawsuit
- ▪Amazon sued Perplexity AI in November 2025, accusing the startup of covertly accessing private Amazon customer accounts through its Comet browser and associated AI agent to place orders
- ▪Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney temporarily blocked Perplexity AI in March 2026 from using its agentic AI on Amazon's platform, finding strong evidence of unauthorized access
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