Editing News-August-04-2026 (section)

== Ninth Circuit vacates Amazon injunction against Perplexity's AI shopping agent ==
The Ninth Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction that had restricted Perplexity's Comet browser from operating inside password-protected Amazon accounts.<ref name="ca9-amazon" /><ref name="engadget-amazon" /> The court concluded that Amazon was unlikely to establish that Perplexity had accessed its computers within the meaning of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act because Amazon users, rather than Perplexity, accessed Amazon's systems when Comet acted at their direction.<ref name="ca9-amazon" />

The court's analysis emphasized that Comet runs on a user's device and communicates with Amazon from that device, while Perplexity's servers receive information from Comet and return instructions without directly connecting to Amazon's servers.<ref name="ca9-amazon" /> The panel limited its holding to the architecture and record before it, leaving open how the statute might apply to agents operating through different technical designs or with greater autonomy.<ref name="ca9-amazon" />

The decision vacated preliminary relief rather than ending Amazon's lawsuit, which returns to the Northern District of California for further proceedings.<ref name="ca9-amazon" />

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