A US federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled on 4 August 2026 that AI startup Perplexity can keep using its shopping software on Amazon. Amazon sued Perplexity in November for breaching a computer fraud law, leading to a temporary injunction against the startup in March. But the appeals court decided that users, rather than the developer itself, are the ones acting on the platform.
Amazon accused Perplexity’s Comet browser and AI agent of secretly accessing customer accounts to place orders. Perplexity responded that AI agents don’t have eyeballs to see the advertising Amazon bombards its users with. A Perplexity spokesperson said the firm will keep fighting for people’s right to choose their own AI tools. Amazon disagreed with the ruling and is reviewing its options.
The impact on online sales
Agentic AI systems carry out tasks with minimal human guidance. They plan, reason and act online. More consumers are now letting software handle their searching and ordering.
Say you run an online garden furniture shop. An AI agent scans the market for a buyer and places an order directly. If that software cannot read your product details properly, it skips your shop.
How to adapt to automated buyers
- Make your product data and prices technically clear in your website’s code.
- Keep terms, conditions and delivery costs clear so an AI agent can process orders without errors.
- Simplify every step of your checkout process for automated software.
Source: Reuters (via WHBL)
