An Alternative to Eagan, MN and Dayton, OH?

As a possible alternative to Westlaw and Lexis, a pay as you go service announced this morning:

Fastcase and Peppercoin Bring Legal Research to the Masses

Peppercoin enables Fastcase to build its business through added payment options

WALTHAM, Mass., July 11 /PRNewswire/ — Peppercoin today announced that Fastcase, IncFor a three year old evaluation of Fastcase and a more recent article. ., is using Peppercoin’s Small Payment Suite to grow revenues by adding payment flexibility and capturing new customer segments for its new, affordable a la carte legal research service that expands public access to the entire American law library.

Traditionally, high prices for legal research sources have discouraged students, nonprofit groups and concerned citizens from searching case law and statutes. Legal research, which can cost $100 per search or $500 per hour, remained largely the domain of law firms and other businesses.

Peppercoin and Fastcase have changed that by providing access to legal research for as little as $5.

“The law should be accessible to everybody, and by using Peppercoin we can give individuals easy, affordable access to legal research in a way that still makes good business sense for us,” said Ed Walters, chief executive officer of Fastcase. “Peppercoin has allowed us to offer pay-as-you-go pricing and more affordably process credit and debit card payments as low as $5 — a critical element of our success. By teaming with Yahoo! for distribution and Peppercoin for small payment solutions, we are expanding access to the law and opening new markets for legal research.”

Previously, Fastcase, the third-largest case law library in the world, only offered subscriptions on a monthly or annual basis, costing as much as $995. With Peppercoin, Fastcase is now able to provide online access to millions of cases, statutes and regulations at just $4.99 for each case.

“Peppercoin’s Small Payment Suite enables merchants such as Fastcase to explore new business models and capture new revenue streams,” said Mark Friedman, president and CEO of Peppercoin. “Over the past year, our momentum has increased online — and in the physical world — as we work closely with leading merchants and their acquiring banks to power small payments growth.”

Peppercoin’s Small Payment Suite Version 3.0 enables merchants to increase revenues and improve profitability while allowing their customers to use the credit and debit cards already in their wallets.