Summary
- A federal appeals court has lifted a ban on Perplexity's AI shopping features on Amazon.
- The court determined that it was users, not Perplexity, who accessed Amazon via the AI agent under federal law.
- This ruling could influence future legal disputes regarding autonomous AI and e-commerce.
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Perplexity, allowing its AI shopping capabilities on Amazon to continue. This decision marks a significant moment in an ongoing legal debate about the interactions of autonomous AI agents with online marketplaces.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that Amazon likely would not succeed in its claim that Perplexity breached the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a law designed to combat hacking.
According to the ruling, "To prevail on a CFAA claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant intentionally accessed a computer without authorization or exceeded authorized access, thereby obtaining information from a protected computer, and that there was a loss to one or more persons during any one-year period totaling at least $5,000 in value."
The court clarified that it was Amazon's users, rather than Perplexity, who used the agentic AI browser known as Comet to access the website, which allows browsing, account login, and purchasing on behalf of users.
The legal conflict initiated in November when Amazon issued a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity before proceeding with a lawsuit. Amazon claimed that Perplexity’s Comet browser misrepresented automated traffic as regular browser activity, violating its terms of service and accessing user accounts without consent. In contrast, Perplexity maintained that Comet operated solely with user permission, utilizing credentials stored on their devices, and accused Amazon of attempting to limit consumer options in AI assistants.
In March, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Amazon, suggesting that they had provided compelling evidence that Perplexity likely breached federal and California laws by accessing protected Amazon accounts without authorization. This injunction temporarily halted Comet's shopping capabilities on Amazon during the ongoing lawsuit.
While the main lawsuit continues, this ruling provides insight into how courts might interpret the actions of AI agents acting on behalf of users.