Appeals court lets Perplexity AI’s Comet shopping bots stay on Amazon while legal challenge plays out

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Perplexity AI a stay on a lower court order that would have banned its Comet shopping bots from accessing Amazon's platform, hours before the injunction was set to take effect. Amazon sued Perplexity in November, accusing the startup of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when its Comet bots are shopping on a real person's behalf and refusing to stop when asked. The lower court had found it likely that Perplexity was accessing users' Amazon accounts without Amazon's permission, but the ban will remain on hold while the appeals court considers Perplexity's full challenge.