* The term “Fire Cider” was coined by Rosemary Gladstar. In other words its her intellectual property.. She has published copyrighted books from the 90’s.
* This is not about Shire Cider people as individuals or their business, this is about defending a generic herbal term and keeping it in public use. Shire Fire Cider folks first responses to the issue were not accepted by this community, and we reacted with an organized response. (They have since responded that they will work with us on this issue.)
* We have a petition going to revoke this, with over 3000 signatures in 48 hours. This is the beginning of showing that this term is generic and should not be trademarked.
* There is an active boycott, with herbalists/ supporters contacting retailers of Shire City Fire Cider, and returning their product to the stores. This boycott will end when a resolution is reached.
* This type of tunnel vision capitalism will just open the door to trademarking of traditional medicines for profit. The biggest reason that this is dangerous is because herbs and herbalism have always been widely available to everyone. Corporatizing it will change the landscape of herbs and herbalism into something similar to the current state of the pharmaceutical industry.
* With a strong online presence, we are creating a unified grassroots response to an issue that is important to the herbal community