A US appeals court has overturned the injunction against Perplexity. The reasoning: users access Amazon, not the AI company.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has overturned an injunction that blocked Perplexity from using its agentic AI shopping tools on Amazon's platform. According to Reuters, the court found that Amazon was unlikely to succeed on its claim that Perplexity's AI agents violated a federal computer fraud law.
The deciding factor was a question of attribution. The law prohibits accessing computers and obtaining information without permission. But the appeals court concluded that it was the users who accessed Amazon's platform through the agents, not Perplexity itself. The court sided with the startup's argument on that point.
This is the first ruling by a US federal appeals court on whether AI agents can lawfully access online platforms on behalf of users. The answer matters for an entire field. Agentic systems plan, reason, and carry out tasks with limited human oversight. They browse, shop, and complete transactions across the web.
Amazon isn't accepting the loss. "We respectfully disagree with today's decision on the preliminary injunction," a spokesperson said, adding that the company remains confident and is weighing its options. "We remain confident in our case and are evaluating our next steps." Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said, "Perplexity will continue to fight for the right of internet users to choose whatever AI they want."
