Perplexity has won an appeal overturning a court injunction that had blocked its AI-powered Comet browser from accessing Amazon's website to shop on users' behalf. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Amazon's original claim, based on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, was unlikely to succeed because it was the Comet user, not Perplexity itself, who was accessing Amazon's servers when directing the tool to shop there. The decision is a significant setback for Amazon in its escalating legal battle with AI firms over agentic shopping tools browsing its site.

The dispute began in November 2025, when Amazon sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter alleging it had broken an earlier 2024 agreement to pause agentic shopping by disguising Comet's bot as a standard Chrome browser. Amazon sued in March 2026 and initially secured a temporary injunction, but the appeals court has now found the harm to Amazon did not justify that measure. Amazon says it disagrees with the ruling and is considering its next steps, which could include seeking a rehearing or Supreme Court review, while the underlying lawsuit continues in a San Francisco federal court.