US appeals court lets Perplexity’s AI shopping agent return to Amazon

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned an injunction that had blocked Perplexity from using its agentic AI shopping tools on Amazon. The court found Amazon was unlikely to succeed on its claim that Perplexity’s AI agents violated a federal computer fraud law. The ruling allows Perplexity’s AI shopping agents back on Amazon while the underlying lawsuit continues.

The deciding question was attribution: whether Perplexity was accessing Amazon, or whether users were accessing Amazon through Perplexity’s agents. The appeals court concluded that users themselves accessed Amazon’s platform through the tools, not the AI company. That finding is important because the case is described as the first US federal appeals court ruling on whether AI agents can lawfully act on online platforms for users.

Amazon sued Perplexity in November, accusing the startup of covertly accessing private Amazon customer accounts through its Comet browser and its built-in AI agent. The agent can log into shopping accounts and place orders on behalf of users. In March, a federal court in California temporarily barred Perplexity from using agentic AI on Amazon and ordered the startup to delete copies of Amazon data; that injunction is now void, but the case has not been decided.

The decision could shape how AI agents operate across online platforms, especially when they browse, shop, or complete transactions for users. Amazon has argued that third-party AI should work transparently and respect established APIs, while Perplexity argues that agents acting for users should have the same rights as human users. For AI companies, platforms, and users, the practical takeaway is clear: this ruling removes one immediate barrier for Perplexity, but it does not settle the broader legal fight.