Kansas Governor Sam Brownback recently signed into law Senate Bill 124, which amends sections of the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act with respect to resale price maintenance (RPM) agreements. The Bill supersedes a previous decision by the Kansas Supreme Court, O'Brien v. Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. In O'Brien, the court held that RPM agreements were per se illegal under Kansas state antitrust law. The O'Brien ruling departed from the Supreme Court decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, which held that RPM agreements should be reviewed under the rule of reason (127 S. Ct. 2705 (2007)).

Under the new law, Kansas will review RPM agreements by determining whether the restraint is reasonable under all facts and circumstances of the specific case. The new standard brings Kansas law in line with the federal law on RPMs.

The Bill was published in the Kansas Register and took effect on April 18, 2013.

For background on RPMs in Kansas, see Legal Update, Kansas Supreme Court Rules RPM Per Se Illegal under State's Antitrust Law. For more on RPMs generally, see: