Amazon Presses To Ban Perplexity Shopping Agent

Amazon is urging a federal appellate court to reconsider a recent ruling that allowed Perplexity’s Comet assistant to continue shopping on Amazon.com, on behalf users.

In a petition filed Tuesday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Amazon argues that the ruling in favor of Perplexity “degraded website owners’ ability to set the terms on
which powerful, fast-evolving, and potentially destructive AI agents may enter their secure systems.”

Amazon’s argument comes in a legal battle dating to November, when the
company alleged Perplexity’s Comet browser shopped for users and made purchases on their behalf despite Amazon’s attempt to implement technological blocks, and a cease-and-desist demand.

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney in the Northern District of California sided with Amazon, ruling it would likely prove Perplexity violated the Computer Fraud and
Abuse Act by accessing Amazon users’ accounts with their permission, but without Amazon’s authorization. That law, introduced soon after the 1983 movie “WarGames” came out, includes provisions that prohibit companies from accessing other businesses’ web servers without authorization.

Chesney issued an injunction banning Perplexity’s shopping agent from Amazon.com, and directing Perplexity to destroy data obtained by Comet.

Perplexity
immediately appealed to the 9th Circuit, which temporarily paused the injunction.

Last month, a three-judge panel of the appellate court reversed…