A U.S. appeals court has temporarily paused a lower court's ruling that had blocked Perplexity AI from using its AI-powered shopping tool on Amazon's marketplace. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an administrative stay, allowing the tool to function while the court considers a longer-term pause during Perplexity's appeal.
The initial preliminary injunction was granted on March 9 by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney, who found Amazon was likely to succeed in its claim that Perplexity's tool accessed its systems without authorization. Amazon filed the lawsuit in November, accusing the AI startup of violating computer fraud laws by disguising its automated shopping agent as a human user to access customer accounts and make purchases.