Two Court Judgements Against Kate McIver Skin
BREAKING NEWS
I WON AGAIN against KATE MCLVER SKIN & CHRISTOPHER JOHN MCIVER (as PR for the estate of Kate Eleanor Dyment (deceased))
On 19-12-23, I won the appeal SUBMITTED by KMS, absolutely over the moon with this after almost 5 year of legal battle and the best Christmas present ever! Extremely challenging & stressful but I won again having won at the lower court on 20-4-23.
The late Kate McIver was a white label client selling my Elixir very well, which she later renamed it to Secret Weapon, so well that she claimed to create it whilst she had chemo in 2018 & made it in her back room with her very own hands!!! Lies, lies, lies as I created Elixir and it was me who handmade this antiaging serum on the kitchen table.
Judge Hacon wrote: "But 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."
“The implied published statement as I have found it to be, that Ms Tang did not create the Elixir serum, WAS FALSE.”
“On the evidence available I have no doubt that Ms Mclver KNEW that her statement WAS FALSE. Malice is established.
Kate McIver gained lots of publicity by marketing this fake story, also interviewed by Gaby Roslin & championed by celebrities such as Lisa Snowdon, Trinny Woodall & Alex Gerrard. It was shocking & humiliating to find out from friends that my local newspaper, Liverpool Echo was first to publish her fake story when she lived in Chester!
I started my business by creating “skin-kind” products for my son - Alessio when he underwent chemo in 2013 and the business is to fund his 24/7 hours care costs. A TRUE STORY!
Kate McIver engaged Pelham to produce 2 copied serums based on Elixir.
On this, Judge Hacon wrote: “the message presented by KMS in respect of both REFORMULATIONS was that it was the same serum as had been sold as the Elixir serum. 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 chemo …… 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 photos to promote the product.”
Here's the Court Order restraining Kate Mclver Skin Limited's staff from:
i. Misrepresenting the First (Secret weapon limited edition) Pelham (Manufacturer) Reformulation and the Second (Secret weapon original) Reformulation and any other similar product: (a) as the Claimant's Elixir product; or (b) as the Tang Formulation
ii. Misrepresenting the Claimant's Elixir product as the creation of Ms Mclver
On copyright infringement, Judge Hacon found that use of my wording after the 30 Nov 2018 would be a breach of copyright. KMS has since deleted the offending posts.
Needless to say that this prolonged legal battle affected me mentally & I am on the verge of financial ruins which made me wanting to end my life at times. I worried sick about losing my business and home. This enormous financial pressure made it very hard to see a way out being the main wage earner.
I used up my life savings & pensions, ate expired food from charities, no heating in this cold weather, sold the car, offered water instead of milk to Alessio and have £65,000 bank loans to repay. Massive sacrifices so to continue the battle to reclaim my invention and also stopping KMS to mislead their customers that their copied serums are same as Elixir aka original Secret Weapon.
I won 4 legal battles against KMS to take back what’s rightfully mine, however offers of negotiation for out of court settlement were made but rejected by them.
I spent £300,000 so far, received £8000 for the full legal costs for the debarring application, so I don’t get any money. On 19-12-23, I was awarded £48,000 for the appeal application but not yet received & I spent over £95,000 on this. After that legal costs and compensation talk for winning in the Lower Court will begin, likely to be back in court again, so more legal costs. Never ending nightmare
Legal history created as my win in Reverse Passing Off is the 1st determined by not 1 but 2 trials in UK.
Link to the lower court judgement:
Link to the High Court of Appeal judgement:
Get your Elixir via this link:
Please spread the TRUTH by sharing this post, thank you!
Posted on 23-12-23
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OUTCOME of Legal action against KATE MCLVER SKIN
We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that we won the 4 year LONG legal action against Kate McIver Skin!!! Extremely challenging but we won RIGHTLY AND JUSTLY!
The late Kate McIver used to be a white label client selling our Elixir very well, which she later called it Secret Weapon, so well that she claimed to create it whilst she had chemo in 2016-17 and made it in her back room with her very own hands!!! Please note that we do not allowed our clients to make OUR products in their back room.
We've been selling Elixir since 2015 handmade by our Founder, Georgina. She created this little botox in a bottle for herself and a friend who is a beautician.
Judge Hacon wrote in the Judgement: "But 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."
“The implied published statement as I have found it to be, that Ms Tang did not create the Elixir serum, WAS FALSE.”
“On the evidence available I have no doubt that Ms Mclver KNEW that her statement WAS FALSE. Malice is established.
Marketing this untrue story helped Kate McIver to gain publicity, also interviewed by Gaby Roslin. First article was by Liverpool Echo Newspapers hurts us deeply as it's our Founder's home town, utterly devastating, shocking & humiliating for her to find out about this from friends.
Georgina started her business by creating products for her son when he underwent chemotherapy in 2013 and the business is to fund his 24/7 hours care costs. A TRUE STORY!
Kate McIver engaged another manufacturer to produce 2 copied versions based on Elixir.
On this, Judge Hacon wrote: “the message presented by KMS in respect of both REFORMULATIONS was that it was the same serum as had been sold as the Elixir serum. 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 chemo …… 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 photos to promote the product.”
NO ONE has the exact Elixir formula except our company.
Here's the Court Order restraining anyone of Kate Mclver Skin Limited from:
i. Misrepresenting the First (Secret weapon limited edition) Pelham (Manufacturer) Reformulation and the Second (Secret weapon original) Reformulation and any other similar product: (a) as the Claimant's Elixir product; or (b) as the Tang Formulation
ii. Misrepresenting the Claimant's Elixir product as the creation of Ms Mclver
On copyright infringement, Judge Hacon found that use of our wording after the 30 Nov 2018 would be a breach of copyright. KMS has since deleted the offending posts.
Needless to say that this action has affected Georgina mentally, especially in 2019, where she almost had a nervous breakdown. She has suffered silently & the enormous financial pressures had made it real tough being the main wage earner. She worried sick about losing her business and her home. Thanks to Alessio, she stayed focus on taking back what’s rightfully hers & justice prevailed.
Legal history created, as our case of Reverse Passing Off is the 1st determined by trial.
Link to full judgement:
We really love you to spread the TRUTH by sharing this post. Thank you very much.
Posted on 20-5-23.
Newspapers and magazines articles on this legal battle
On 8-6-2023, La vida Liverpool published "Meet the woman behind the Secret Weapon Scandal" and here's the link to the article:
LIVERPOOL MUM WINS 'THE SECRET WEAPON SCANDAL!' - Lavida Liverpool
On 15-6-2023, Liverpool Echo newspaper published "Mum wins legal victory over anti-aging serum she created and here's the link to the article:
Mum wins legal victory over anti-ageing serum she created - Liverpool Echo
On 24-6-2023, MSN news featured the article from Liverpool Echo newspaper and here's the link:
Mum wins legal victory over anti-ageing serum she created (msn.com)
On 24-6-2023, North Wales Live newspaper published "Mum wins four year legal fight over anti-aging serum she created and here's the link to the article:
On 13-7-2023, The Chester Standard newspaper published "Chester cancer sufferer passed off anti-aging serum as her own:
On 22-1-2024
https://www.lavidaliverpool.co.uk/brave-mum-wins-huge-secret-weapon-serum-court-case/
On 12-1-2024
Following articles are written by legal professionals on this ground breaking case:
April 2023
https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/ip/document/393990/641V-DTD3-GXF6-826J-00000-00/Passing_off_goodwill__misrepresentation_and_damage
April 2023
Yours Naturally Naturally Yours Ltd v Kate McIver Skin Ltd - Case Law - VLEX 930680852
April 2023
On 28-4-2023
Is this the elixir for IP law? (rosieburbidge.com)
On 23-6-2023
IPEC upholds passing off claim in anti-aging skincare product case - Bird & Bird (twobirds.com)
On 6-7-2023
https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2023/uk/ipec-upholds-passing-off-claim-in-anti-aging-skincare-product-case
On 1-12-2023
You can watch the High court of appeal hearing via this article
On 19-1-2023
Skincare Biz Loses Fight Over Rights To Serum - Law360
19-12-2023
On 5-1-2024
Article written by our barrister Daniel Metcalf
Daniel Metcalfe: success in the Court of Appeal | St John's Buildings (stjohnsbuildings.com)
On 5-1-2024
On 17-1-2024
https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/legal/news/court-of-appeal-confirms-passing-off-copyright-infringement-in-relabeling-anti-aging-serum-as-own
On 23-1-2024
https://www.fieldfisher.com/en/services/intellectual-property/intellectual-property-blog/the-elixir-to-a-reverse-passing-off-claim-court-of-appeal-upholds-ipec-decision