A Liverpool mum has won the first legal case of its kind determined by trial in a UK court. Georgina Tang, 60, Founder of Yours Naturally Naturally Yours organic skincare brand, won a ground-breaking case against Kate McIver Skin Limited — succeeding in the claim of ‘Reverse Passing Off’ after four long years of legal battle.
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
The outcome was handed down on 20th April 2023 by Judge Hacon in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court in Manchester. The decision came as a great relief for Ms Tang, who almost had a nervous breakdown over the ongoing legal fight — worried sick about losing her business and home, having spent over £200,000 on legal costs.
Georgina is a well known pioneer of results-driven skincare and haircare products within the beauty industry. She has created many ‘miracle’ formulas that have had profound results on people through her multi-award winning brand. One of these products was her ‘Elixir’ antiaging serum that was used by the late Kate McIver when she was having chemotherapy in 2017.
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Georgina started creating products for her son, Alessio, when he underwent chemotherapy in 2013. She created “skin-kind” hair care to encourage hair growth with great success, as he now has a full head of hair. In addition, she created a shea butter balm and following this severe psoriasis soon cleared.
Her initial hobby turned into a full time business to fund his 24/7 care and eventually a legacy for him when she is no longer around. Alessio has severe complex medical and educational needs such as Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Learning Difficulties, Sensory processing and communication difficulties to name just a few.
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Georgina created Elixir aka ‘Miracle In A Bottle’ in 2015 after having great success with other “skin-kind” products and wanting to create an antiaging formula for her own skin. Due to its profound success, she supplied to beauticians and retailers across the globe including Kate McIver — who became a ‘white label’ supplier.
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
White label arrangement began in 2018, with Ms. McIver using Georgina’s product name “Elixir” and later changing it to Secret Weapon. Completely unbeknown to Ms Tang, Ms McIver started to misrepresent that she created Elixir aka Secret Weapon whilst she had chemotherapy — even stating that she made it in her own back room with her very own hands.
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Kate McIver Skin terminated their working arrangement with immediate effect towards the end of 2018 — launching Secret Weapon Limited Edition the very next day. Kate McIver’s ‘Secret Weapon’ shot to fame and was championed by influencers and celebrities.
The key marketing angle was that Ms McIver created Elixir aka Secret Weapon after searching for something to help with her skin when she had chemotherapy. As a result, the story was covered by the likes of The Liverpool Echo in the home town of Ms Tang, The Daily Mail, Gaby Roslin on BBC Radio London and Leader Live Newspaper to name a few.
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
In one newspaper, Ms McIver said: “I have the most incredible husband and him and Lucia have been so supportive from day one, delivering boxes and helping to stick labels on the product — it’s been a real family affair.”
Georgina explained: “It was extremely hurtful to read my local newspapers publicising Ms McIver who lived in Chester and was utterly devastated to read the untrue story that they were sticking labels on MY products. I know this isn’t true because my staff and I did that by hand as our products are handmade!”
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Judge Hacon wrote: “While her story of being driven to create a serum to cure her bad skin was presumably attractive from a marketing point of view, it was not true. Ms Mclver’s statement on 6 June 2018 that she had put her life and soul into researching and creating the ‘Kate Mclver’ serum, can only have been taken as meaning that she had created Elixir serum she was selling. No alternative was suggested.”
He continued: “Ms Mclver expressed representation was that she was the creator of the Elixir serum. By inevitable implications, she also made the further representation that she was the creator of the Elixir serum sold by anyone else, including Ms Tang. Both the express and the implied representation were false.”
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Judge Hacon wrote: “Kate McIver Skin continued to represent this as the serum which Ms McIver had created to deal with her own skin problems caused by chemotherapy. KMS made prominent use of before and after photographs of the celebrity Danielle Lloyd. These were used in an Instagram post dated 19 October 2018, when KMS was marketing Ms Tang’s serum, with commentary that included: ‘Created by stage 4 cancer thriver Kate McIver’.”
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Judge Hacon went on to say: “In my view, Ms McIver and KMS remained very attached to the attractive story of Ms McIver’s having created their serum because of her efforts to recover from the effects of chemotherapy. They continued to state that this was the serum they were selling. This is supported by Kathryn Orr’s interview for the Ladies of Liverpool podcast, the prominent use of ‘Original’ on the packaging and the repeated use of the Danielle Lloyd photographs to promote the product.“
Georgina explained: “I originally started making products to help my son when he had chemotherapy. For her to make out like my products were hers and claim that she had created Elixir aka Secret weapon whilst she had chemotherapy was so wrong.”
She continued: “Sadly, Kate McIver passed away and I am truly sorry about that for her and her family. I know the unbearable pain of losing someone close because I lost two young members of my family to cancer, one being my sister whom I was very close to. Therefore I have always worked very hard to develop skin care and hair care products which are suitable for people going through chemotherapy. I had first hand experience from my son of that intensive chemotherapy treatment.”
On copyright infringement, Judge Hacon found that use of YNNY wording after the 30 Nov 2018 would be a breach of copyright. Kate McIver Skin has since deleted the offending posts.
Georgina sells her extensive range of “skin-kind” products via her website and white label clients. She said it was like a nightmare, extremely stressful, time consuming and financially draining — but is very pleased that she won the case rightly and justly. The case has since been dubbed ‘The Secret Weapon Scandal’.
Yours Naturally Naturally Yours by Georgina Tang
For the YNNY online shop or to enquire about becoming a stockist visit Georgina’s WEBSITE!
Check out Yours Naturally Naturally Yours on FACEBOOK!
Check out Yours Naturally Naturally Yours on INSTAGRAM!
For the full Judgement on the case CLICK HERE!
As advised on our website, La Vida Liverpool offers marketing and PR therefore this article is a paid advertorial
