CCLS alumna writes about her experience of working at the EUIPO.
Vitória M. Alves (Intellectual Property LLM, 2023) writes about her experience of working at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on the Pan-European Seal (PES) Programme, which she started in September 2023 in Alicante, Spain. Vitória was allocated to the IPDW (Intellectual Property in the Digital World), which is responsible for aspects related to the use of Intellectual Property (IP) in the digital environment, including cooperation with intermediaries and copyright issues. It also includes activities for the judiciary as well as specific studies and international activities of the Observatory.
Vitória comments: “When I started researching about the EUIPO and the PES Programme at the beginning of last year, I came to understand better the relevance and size of it all. There isn't a day I don't learn here, and I don't go more than a week without meeting one or a few brilliant minds, many of whom I am lucky enough to work alongside. EUIPO also helps connect staff with brilliant minds from around the world and IP Campus was no different.”
Vitória’s work on the PES programme took months of preparation and balancing day-to-day work with the preparation of a research paper and a presentation. The topic chosen by the group was "EU Copyright Law: Photography and AI Development". Vitória is particularly grateful to her tutors from the programme, who are all also prominent legal practitioners: Patricia Martinez-Carrasco Mesa, Ruth Vella Falzon and Fernando Di Blasi (Management of Intellectual Property MSc, 2018). Vitória goes on to say: “We also had the chance to talk to companies, institutions and international organisations where participants from other editions of the PES Programme currently work - quite an alumni community! I couldn't be happier and more fulfilled when I look back at all that the last few months of EUIPO have given me!”.