The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Amazon's preliminary injunction against Perplexity's Comet AI browser on August 4, 2026, ruling that it is users - not Perplexity - who "access" Amazon's servers under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) when the shopping-agent feature is used.
Amazon sued Perplexity in November 2025, arguing Comet's autonomous shopping assistant violated the CFAA and California's CDAFA; a district court granted Amazon a preliminary injunction in March 2026 that blocked the agent from operating on Amazon.com. The appeals court disagreed, writing that "an injunction against conduct that likely does not violate the CFAA or the CDAFA would not serve the public interest."
Amazon said it "respectfully disagree[s]" with the ruling and is "evaluating our next steps"; the case now returns to the US District Court for the Northern District of California for further proceedings, and Amazon could still seek a rehearing or Supreme Court review.