What happened

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a preliminary injunction that had blocked Perplexity from using agentic AI shopping tools on Amazon's platform. According to Reuters reporting cited by The Decoder, the court found Amazon was unlikely to succeed on its claim that Perplexity's AI agents violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The deciding factor was attribution: the appeals court concluded users accessed Amazon through the agents, not Perplexity itself. Amazon sued in November alleging covert access to customer accounts via the Comet browser; in March Judge Maxine Chesney barred the tools and ordered deletion of Amazon data. That injunction is now void, but the underlying case remains undecided and Amazon said it is evaluating next steps.

Evidence

• The Ninth Circuit overturned the injunction blocking Perplexity's agentic AI shopping tools on Amazon.

  The Decoder · attributed

  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.

• Reuters reported the court found Amazon unlikely to succeed on a federal computer fraud claim against Perplexity's agents.

  The Decoder · attributed

  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 court held users, not Perplexity, accessed Amazon through the agents.

  The Decoder · attributed

  But the appeals court concluded that it was the users who accessed Amazon's platform through the agents, not Perplexity itself.

• This is the first US federal appeals court ruling on whether AI agents can lawfully access online platforms on behalf of users.

  The Decoder · attributed

  This is the first ruling by a US federal appeals court on whether AI agents can lawfully access online platforms on behalf of users.

• A March preliminary injunction barred Perplexity's agentic AI use on Amazon and ordered deletion of Amazon data.

  The Decoder · attributed

  In March, a federal court in California temporarily barred Perplexity from using agentic AI on Amazon. Judge Maxine Chesney found "strong evidence" that Perplexity accessed password-protected accounts with users' permission but without Amazon's authorization. The startup was also ordered to delete copies of Amazon data.

• Amazon disagreed with the preliminary-injunction decision and said it is evaluating next steps.

  The Decoder · attributed

  "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 said it will continue fighting for users' right to choose their AI tools.

  The Decoder · attributed

  Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said, "Perplexity will continue to fight for the right of internet users to choose whatever AI they want."

Why it matters

As the first federal appeals court decision on agent platform access, it offers an early legal signal for agentic commerce, but it addressed only a preliminary injunction and left contract, security, and merits claims unresolved.

Limits and uncertainties

The ruling vacated a preliminary injunction only; The Decoder notes the underlying Amazon v. Perplexity case has not been decided on the merits.

Core CFAA reasoning is attributed to Reuters via The Decoder, not quoted directly from the court opinion in the packet.

Amazon continues to dispute the decision and may pursue further litigation, so platform enforcement posture remains unsettled.

Practical implications

Teams building user-directed shopping or browsing agents may document explicit user initiation and authorization flows as part of access attribution.

Operators should not treat the ruling as clearance on terms-of-service or contract claims separate from the CFAA preliminary-injunction analysis.

Platform operators may still press API-transparency, authorization, and security arguments even where direct provider CFAA exposure is contested.

What to watch

Whether Amazon files further appeals or pursues alternative remedies after saying it is evaluating next steps.

The merits outcome in the underlying lawsuit, including any renewed injunction requests or data-deletion orders.

Whether other platforms cite or challenge the user-attribution framing for third-party AI agents acting on customer accounts.