US court temporarily lifts ban on AI shopping assistant Perplexity on Amazon
A US federal court of appeals has overturned the ruling that barred AI company Perplexity from using its AI shopping assistant on Amazon. This gives Perplexity provisional permission to keep the service running while the lawsuit continues.
The dispute began after Amazon filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in November. According to the online retailer, Perplexity used automated software via its Comet browser to make purchases on Amazon on behalf of users, despite technical blocks and a formal demand to stop doing so. Amazon argued that, by doing this, Perplexity violates the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and a Californian anti‑hacking law.
A federal judge had previously ruled in Amazon’s favour and imposed a preliminary injunction. This not only required Perplexity to stop approaching Amazon, but also to destroy data it had collected earlier. The judge found that Amazon would likely be able to show that Perplexity gained access to restricted parts of the website without permission, even though this happened with the users’ own consent.
Perplexity immediately appealed. According to the company, it is the users who visit Amazon, not the AI service itself. Perplexity also argues that the CFAA is not intended to restrict access to public websites and that Amazon is using the law to obstruct a competitor in the field of AI shopping assistants.
The court of appeals has now temporarily suspended the injunction. That does not mean Perplexity has won the case: the judges will issue a final decision on the appeal at a later date. Until then, however, the Comet shopping assistant may remain active on Amazon.
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