Amazon’s public fight with Perplexity over online shopping started in November 2025.
Perplexity has successfully overturned an injunction that banned the AI shopping tool built into its Comet browser from accessing Amazon, Bloomberg reports. According to an opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Amazon’s original claim that Perplexity violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) doesn’t hold up to scrutiny and shouldn’t have been rewarded with an injunction.
Successfully claiming that Perplexity violated the law requires Amazon to prove that the company intentionally accessed a computer without authorization, obtained information from that protected computer and that there was a loss “to one or more persons during any one-year period” that averaged at least $5,000 in value. Because Comet, Perplexity’s AI browser, requires user direction to use Amazon on its own, the appeals court determined it was the Comet user who was accessing Amazon’s “computers” (the servers that host Amazon.com) and not Perplexity itself.
Per the court, an injunction “against conduct that likely does not violate the CFAA or the CDAFA would not serve the public interest.” Additionally, the harm Amazon could suffer by letting Perplexity offer Comet’s shopping capabilities didn’t warrant an injunction in the first place.
“We respectfully disagree with today’s decision on the preliminary injunction,” Amazon said in a statement to Engadget. “We remain confident in our case and are evaluating our next steps.”
Amazon sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter in November 2025 demanding that it block its AI browser from accessing Amazon’s online store. According to Amazon, both companies had agreed to an earlier pause on agentic shopping in 2024, but Perplexity went back on the agreement and re-enabled the feature by disguising Comet’s AI bot as a normal Chrome browser. In response, Amazon filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in March 2026 and was awarded a temporary injunction not long after.
While the appeals court decision eliminates Amazon’s injunction, it doesn’t close the case in either company’s favor. Amazon can ask for a rehearing or ask the Supreme Court for a review. And even if it doesn’t pursue either option, the company’s lawsuit will still play out in the San Francisco federal court where it was originally filed, giving Amazon another opportunity to argue its case.
