AN appeal against a High Court judgment which ruled a Chester mum's claims she had created a skincare brand for her cancer treatment scars were false has been dismissed.

The High Court previously ruled that Liverpool mum Georgina Tang, 60, founder of Yours Naturally Naturally Yours (YNNY) organic skincare brand, won a ground-breaking case against Kate McIver Skin Limited, succeeding in the claim of ‘Reverse Passing Off’.

Kate McIver, who had been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2016, passed away in March 2019, aged 30. She had said she initially used the skincare product to treat her scars caused by the chemotherapy treatment.

Kate McIver, who died in 2019.

Kate McIver, who died in 2019.

On June 6, 2018, Ms McIver posted on Instagram: "The Kate McIver serum was designed to turn my skin around to help my cells recover and rejuvenate, it also healed all my scars."

Judge Hacon, in his summary judgment, said: "I have no doubt that Ms McIver’s account of the painful difficulties inflicted on her by her condition and consequent therapy were accurate. She showed her strength by the way that she dealt with those difficulties. 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."

That led defendants Kate McIver Skin Limited and Christopher McIver to appeal against the judgment in the Court of Appeal, before Lord Justice Arnold, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, in a hearing held late last year.

The YNNY by Georgina Tang serum and the Kate McIver Secret Weapon serum.

The YNNY by Georgina Tang serum and the Kate McIver Secret Weapon serum.

Lord Justice Arnold said it was "regrettable" the parties had not been able to resolve the dispute as the costs of the appeal "will have exceeded what is at stake".

In the lengthy written judgment, Lord Justice Arnold added the High Court judge "was entitled to find that Ms McIver had misrepresented that she was the creator of the serum", and Ms McIver and Kate McIver Skin misrepresented the later reformulated serums by marketing them as the same as the original formula, the one made by Ms Tang.

The court had previously heard at least one customer had found the first reformulated serum unsatisfactory.

Ms Tang said, while the Court of Appeal found in her favour, she was awarded just £48,000 legal costs having spent double that on the appeal stage.

Georgina Tang.

Georgina Tang.

All told, Ms Tang said she has now spent about £310,000 in her five-year legal battle.

She said: "This long legal battle has taken its toll not just on my mental health but also on my family’s financial stability. I’ve had to cash in my pensions, we’ve sold my husband’s car, we’ve had to live without heating despite my son Alessio being immune compromised so he feels the cold more than the average person.

“We’ve had to eat expired food for free from Zero Waste Liverpool by queuing out in the cold for hours.

"I have to offer water to Alessio instead of milk and cut down on his food, especially fruits which he loves. He needs a healthy balanced diet due to his complex medical health conditions.

“It has been so tough that I’ve found myself in tears, as well as wanting to end my life on occasions, especially during October and November 2023 where I had to find £50,000 for legal representation fees.

"I got so depressed, especially after the rejection from my bank for a re-mortgage loan.

“I felt so hopeless and couldn’t see a way out until I got an online personal loan approved. Then the lump sum of my occupational pension came through, however this money was planned to pay off part of the house mortgage.

"I now have £65,000 of loans to repay. Such stressful times as I worried sick about my business would collapse without money but most of all, losing our home! I feel utterly guilty for putting my family in this impossible situation.”

The YNNY by Georgina Tang Elixir serum.

The YNNY by Georgina Tang Elixir serum.

A winding-up petition against Kate McIver Skin is to be heard in Liverpool next month.

Ms Tang previously said: “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.

“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.”

For more information on YNNY, visit https://www.ynny.co.uk/