Overview
- U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney granted Amazon a preliminary injunction blocking Comet from entering password‑protected areas and ordered Perplexity to destroy Amazon data the tool collected.
- The court found Amazon likely to succeed on claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California’s computer‑fraud statute after determining Comet accessed accounts without Amazon’s authorization.
- The order includes a seven‑day administrative stay to March 16 for Perplexity to seek relief from the Ninth Circuit, and the judge denied Perplexity’s request for a $1 billion bond.
- Amazon alleges Perplexity disguised Comet as Chrome traffic, ignored repeated cease‑and‑desist letters, and circumvented technical blocks, and it documented more than $5,000 in response costs.
- Perplexity maintains Comet acts at users’ direction and says it will continue to fight for consumers’ ability to choose AI shopping tools.