Court Temporarily Lifts Order Banning Perplexity From Amazon

A federal appellate panel has granted Perplexity’s emergency petition to lift an injunction that would have banned the artificial intelligence company’s shopping agent, Comet, from Amazon.

But the reprieve, issued Monday by a two-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, could be short-lived. Circuit Judges Eric Miller and Patrick Bumatay said their administrative order
lifting the injunction is temporary, and will last only until the circuit court has more thoroughly examined the issue and rendered a decision on the merits.

The appellate judges’ move marks
the latest development in a legal battle that began in November, when Amazon sued Perplexity for allegedly “trespassing” into Amazon’s server.

The retailer alleged that Perplexity, through the
Comet browser, shopped for users and made purchases on their behalf — even after Amazon attempted to implement technological blocks and sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter.

Amazon
claimed Perplexity was violating the 1986 federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which prohibits companies from accessing computer servers without permission, as well as a California state anti-hacking
law.

On March 9, U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney in the Northern District of California granted Amazon’s request to prohibit Perplexity’s shopping agent from
continuing to access the retailer’s site, and ordered the artificial intelligence company to destroy data obtained by Comet.

Chesney said in a written…