Appeals court: it's the user, not the bot — Perplexity's shopping agent can return to Amazon
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday threw out the March injunction that barred Perplexity's Comet agent from shopping on Amazon. The judges found Amazon unlikely to win its computer-hacking (CFAA) claim, because it is the user — not Perplexity — who 'accesses' Amazon when they send the agent to buy something, and noted there is almost no caselaw on assigning responsibility for AI agents. The underlying lawsuit continues; Amazon says it disagrees and is weighing next steps.
Why it mattersThis is the first appellate answer to a question the whole agent economy hangs on: when your AI acts for you online, the law sees you acting. If that reading holds, websites will struggle to ban agents with hacking statutes — the fight shifts to terms of service and technical blocks.
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