Our office hosted the meeting of our governing bodies this week, followed by a major conference on copyright to celebrate the opening of a new Copyright Knowledge Centre. This occasion forms the bulk of my weekly blog, along with some cycling photos from Busot and Jijona.
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I start with a nice cloud formation over the Mediterranean, seen one early morning while cycling:
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On Thursday afternoon, the copyright conference began. My Dutch colleague Harrie was the master of ceremonies:
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There were various opening speeches, including one by Renate Nikolay, a senior official from the European Commission:
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Throughout the two-day event, a cartoonist was at work, drawing the speakers in real time:
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His output for the first day, shown the following morning:
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Besides photographing people on stage, I also turned my camera to the audience, as I often do at such events. During a break, my colleagues Vladia and Natalie have a conversation:
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Edyta, former head of the Polish Patent Office, now a deputy executive director of our office:
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Day 2 was opened by Karin Žvokelj from the Slovenian IP office. She is the chair of our Management Board:
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The cartoonist was at work again:
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Besides speeches, there were also various panels, this one moderated by Maria-Daphne Papadopoulou, Acting Director of the Hellenic Copyright Organization:
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Another panel, featuring Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm from Denmark, Artist and Director, Artificial Mind:
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The cartoonist still at work:
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On the margins of the conference, we had arranged a group exhibition by various local artists:
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One of the artists is Almudena Torró whom I had met before, as she was the first local artist whose work we exhibited at the office after our art club had been allocated an exhibition space a couple of years ago:
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Glenda Granda is currently exhibiting paintings at our office, but she also makes other things, such as lamps made from empty wine fermentation jars:
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One of the speakers at the conference was Antanina, a former trainee of mine, now a lecturer at London Metropolitan University. It always gives me tremendous pleasure to meet former trainees and see their careers progress. Antanina came upstairs with me to also meet my colleagues Carolina and Michal with whom she also worked when she was here:
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Véronique, seen here taking a picture of someone, was one of the main organisers of the conference:
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This was very much her big day:
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She also wanted a photo with me:
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My friend Eri, mingling during a break:
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In the evening there was a dinner at a restaurent on the Esplanada de España. I prowled a bit during the pre-dinner drinks on the terrace, as usual. This is Patricia, director of the department where I worked until June 2024:
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Vladia is director of our Academy Department:
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At the weekend, I again cycled to Busot. I stopped at an impossibly steep street in the centre of the town, with some nice wall paintings:
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I lingered a bit, looking at the wall paintings:
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The street is appropriately named:
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I then cycled on to Jijona, another 12-13 km away, to see the outdoor nativity scene there:
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Always an impressive sight:
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I finish with a cute guard dog at a local bookstore 80Mundos. Fittingly, the dog’s name is Ulysses:
