Amazon Pushes Ninth Circuit to Uphold Block on Perplexity AI Shopping Tool
Amazon asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to maintain an injunction blocking Perplexity's artificial intelligence shopping assistant, called Comet, from making purchases on Amazon.com. The company characterized the tool as "a textbook violation" of federal and state law.
The injunction, already in place, prevents the AI bot from accessing Amazon's platform to buy items on behalf of users. Amazon argues the block rests on substantial evidence of wrongdoing.
The case centers on whether Perplexity's technology violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and state consumer protection laws. Perplexity has positioned Comet as a shopping assistant that helps users find and purchase products more efficiently.
Amazon's legal team, represented by Hueston Hennigan and Quinn Emanuel, must convince the appellate panel that the lower court's decision was sound. The outcome will likely influence how courts treat AI tools that interact with e-commerce platforms without explicit permission.
The Ninth Circuit handles appeals from federal courts across California, Washington, and other western states, making this decision potentially significant for tech companies operating nationwide.
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