# Perplexity defends AI agent in Amazon lawsuit over shopping access > Source: > Published: 2026-11-03 13:34:20+00:00 # Perplexity defends AI agent in Amazon lawsuit over shopping access Amazon official logo (public domain, Wikimedia Commons) — CryptoBriefing brand treatment A Ninth Circuit ruling says the user, not the bot, is the one accessing Amazon, but the fight over Perplexity's Comet browser is far from finished Asking an AI assistant to order you a coffee machine sounds harmless. On [Amazon](https://cryptobriefing.com/markets/amazon/), it turned into one of the first real courtroom tests of what happens when software shops on your behalf. The software is Comet, a browser built by [Perplexity AI](https://cryptobriefing.com/markets/perplexity/). Its built-in Assistant can wander through Amazon’s store and complete a purchase for whoever is using it. Amazon says that behavior crosses a legal line. Perplexity has so far won the most important round of the argument, although the case is still very much alive. ## How the fight unfolded Amazon filed suit in November 2025. According to the case history, it did so after Perplexity did not respond to cease-and-desist letters. The retailer’s core claim is that Comet’s agent got into protected customer accounts without permission. Amazon also alleges the agent disguised itself as an ordinary Chrome browser, making automated activity look like a human clicking around. The legal hooks are two anti-hacking statutes. One is the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, known as the CFAA. The other is California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, or CDAFA. Early on, that theory worked. A federal judge in San Francisco granted Amazon a preliminary injunction on March 9-10, 2026, blocking the agent based on the claims of unauthorized account access. ## The Ninth Circuit changes the frame On August 4, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated that injunction. The opinion was written by Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. ### AI, tech, and the markets they move—in one daily briefing. Daily. Free. Join 34,000+ readers across crypto, finance, and policy. The court’s reasoning turned on a deceptively simple question: who is actually doing the accessing? Because Comet’s agent only acts when its user tells it to, the court concluded the agent is an extension of that person rather than an independent party. “It is the user who ‘accesses’ Amazon’s computers,” the Ninth Circuit wrote. Amazon asked the court to reconsider. On September 10, 2026, the Ninth Circuit declined to rehear the case. Amazon then shifted tactics. On September 21, 2026, it filed an amended complaint aimed at the iOS version of Comet. The new filing alleges that the iPhone app reportedly sends user cookies to Perplexity’s cloud servers. That allegation matters because it targets a different piece of the puzzle. Cookies are the small files that keep you logged in to a site. If they travel from a user’s phone to a company’s servers, Amazon can argue that Perplexity itself, not just the user, is touching account credentials. As of early November 2026, the case remains active in district court. ## What this means for AI agents and the platforms they visit The Ninth Circuit ruling does not end the case, but it sets an important marker. Appellate courts in the circuit covering California, home to much of the tech industry, have now signaled that a user-directed agent can stand in the user’s shoes for purposes of access. For large platforms, the ruling raises an uncomfortable question. If the bot is legally just the customer, the platform has fewer tools to block it under computer-fraud statutes. That leaves terms of service, technical countermeasures and narrower claims like the iOS cookie allegation. The amended complaint is the part to watch. The Ninth Circuit’s logic rests on the agent acting only at the user’s direction. Evidence that data flows to Perplexity’s own infrastructure could give Amazon a way to distinguish the iOS app from the scenario the appeals court analyzed. For now, the score is simple. Amazon won the first round, Perplexity won the appeal and Amazon is regrouping with a new theory. The district court will decide what comes next. **Disclosure:** This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our [Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/). ## More in Technology [See all](https://cryptobriefing.com/tech/)