Court Grants Amazon Preliminary Relief Against Perplexity AI in Data Access Lawsuit
A federal court has sided with Amazon in its lawsuit against AI-powered search engine Perplexity, granting the retail giant preliminary injunctive relief and ordering the AI company to destroy data it allegedly obtained by accessing Amazon's platform without authorization.
What Happened
Amazon filed the lawsuit against Perplexity in November 2025, accusing the company's Comet AI agents of accessing Amazon's ecommerce website in what it described as a covert manner. The case centers on whether third-party AI agents have the right to access and extract data from ecommerce platforms without permission.
The court order, filed in the U.S. Northern District of California, requires Perplexity to destroy all copies of Amazon's data, including customer data, obtained through unauthorized access. The order covers data in the custody of Perplexity, its employees, agents, assigns, and any third-party service providers connected to the operation.
The court found that Amazon provided strong evidence to support several of its claims. Perplexity filed an appeal on the following day.
Why This Matters for Sellers
The case raises a question that affects every seller operating on Amazon or any major ecommerce platform: who controls access to the product listings, pricing data, and customer information that sellers generate through their stores?
AI shopping agents like Perplexity's Comet are designed to browse ecommerce platforms on behalf of consumers, comparing products, surfacing recommendations, and in some cases completing purchases. When those agents access platforms without authorization, the data they collect includes seller inventory, pricing, and product details. Sellers typically have no visibility into this activity and no way to consent to or opt out of it.
The Amazon vs Perplexity case is one of the first major legal tests of where the boundaries sit for AI agents operating across ecommerce environments. The outcome will influence how platforms and AI companies negotiate access agreements going forward, and whether sellers gain any additional protections or controls over how their data gets used by third-party AI tools.
The Broader Context
This lawsuit sits alongside a broader set of questions the industry is working through as agentic AI tools become more common in online shopping. Amazon itself uses AI agents through its Buy for Me feature, which completes purchases on third-party merchant sites on behalf of customers. The company is simultaneously defending its own platform from unauthorized AI access while expanding AI-driven shopping tools that interact with other sellers' websites.
Perplexity's appeal means the case is not resolved. A final ruling could set a precedent that shapes how AI shopping tools operate across ecommerce platforms for years to come. Sellers with products on Amazon and other major platforms should follow the case closely, as it will likely define the legal framework around AI agent access to seller data.
