Perplexity Seeks to Dismiss Amazon’s Amended Complaint Over Comet

Perplexity is seeking dismissal of Amazon’s amended complaint over the Comet shopping assistant, after a federal appeals court vacated an injunction that had restricted the agent’s access to Amazon.

Amazon alleges Comet for iOS copied customer authentication cookies to Perplexity’s cloud servers, which then accessed Amazon directly from March 18 through at least May 11, 2026. The court has not determined whether the account is true.

Amazon sued on Nov. 4, 2025, alleging violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. Amazon’s suit also alleged Comet accessed password-protected customer accounts without authorization. A district court granted Amazon a preliminary injunction on March 9, 2026, restricting Comet’s AI-agent access to Amazon’s protected computer systems.

On Aug. 4, the Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction and remanded the case. Based on the record before it, the court found Amazon unlikely to establish the access element of its claims under the two computer-access laws. Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. wrote, “It is the user who ‘accesses’ Amazon’s computers, with the help of the Assistant to carry out specific acts on Amazon.com.”

The appeals panel limited its ruling to those statutes and facts, leaving open how different circumstances might affect the access question. The opinion also said Amazon could regulate access through its terms of service. The ruling did not dismiss Amazon’s case or address the allegations in the amended complaint, which was filed later.

Amazon’s Sept. 21 amended complaint added a tortious-interference claim involving customer contracts. It also alleges the server activity conflicted with representations Perplexity made in its appellate filings. The allegations remain unresolved.

Perplexity has defended user-directed AI agents, writing, “User agents are exactly that: agents of the user.” Amazon has said third-party agents must meet the same obligations as other users of its platform: “Agentic third-party applications such as Perplexity’s Comet have the same obligations.”

Perplexity filed its motion to dismiss the amended complaint in October. A Sept. 30 scheduling stipulation set Nov. 3 as Amazon’s deadline to oppose the motion.