Amazon wins court ruling banning Perplexity AI shopping agent — Bloomberg

Investing.com — According to Bloomberg, a court ruling this week requires Perplexity AI Inc. to temporarily stop its Comet web browser proxy from making purchases on behalf of shoppers on Amazon’s online marketplace.

In November 2024, Amazon filed a lawsuit against this AI startup, accusing Perplexity of not disclosing its identity when shopping on behalf of real users with Comet, and refusing to cooperate when Amazon asked it to stop, constituting computer fraud.

The ruling, issued on Monday, is a temporary order, and both parties will debate the legality of a shopping bot designed by one company making purchases on the other company’s website without permission.

District Judge Maxine Chesney, who is hearing the case in the San Francisco federal court, wrote that Amazon provided strong evidence showing that Perplexity accessed Amazon users’ password-protected accounts through its Comet browser with user permission but without Amazon’s authorization.

Amazon spokesperson Lara Hendrickson stated in an email to Bloomberg that the preliminary injunction will prevent Perplexity from unauthorized access to Amazon’s store, which is an important step in maintaining a trustworthy shopping experience for Amazon customers. The company looks forward to continuing to present its case in court.

The order requires Perplexity to stop accessing password-protected parts of Amazon’s system, especially Prime subscription user accounts, and to destroy copies of Amazon data. Enforcement of the ruling will be paused for one week to allow Perplexity to file an appeal.

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