TRIPS Agreement
Annex 1C to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
WTO members (where the TRIPS agreement applies)   Parties to the Agreement where also the membership of the European Union applies
Type	Annex to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization
Effective	1 January 1 1996
Parties	158 (All WTO members)[1]
Languages	English, French and Spanish
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights at Wikisource
v t e

TRIPS redirects here. For the new microprocessor design, see TRIPS architecture. For the German racing driver, see Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips

The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members.^[2] It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.

The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the international trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property to date. In 2001, developing countries, concerned that developed countries were insisting on an overly narrow reading of TRIPS, initiated a round of talks that resulted in the Doha Declaration. The Doha declaration is a WTO statement that clarifies the scope of TRIPS, stating for example that TRIPS can and should be interpreted in light of the goal "to promote access to medicines for all."

Specifically, TRIPS contains requirements that nations' laws must meet for copyright rights, including the rights of performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations; geographical indications, including appellations of origin; industrial designs; integrated circuit layout-designs; patents; monopolies for the developers of new plant varieties; trademarks; trade dress; and undisclosed or confidential information. TRIPS also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures. Protection and enforcement of all intellectual property rights shall meet the objectives to contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

Background and history[link]

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TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994. Its inclusion was the culmination of a program of intense lobbying by the United States, supported by the European Union, Japan and other developed nations. Campaigns of unilateral economic encouragement under the Generalized System of Preferences and coercion under Section 301 of the Trade Act played an important role in defeating competing policy positions that were favored by developing countries, most notably Korea and Brazil, but also including Thailand, India and Caribbean Basin states. In turn, the United States strategy of linking trade policy to intellectual property standards can be traced back to the entrepreneurship of senior management at Pfizer in the early 1980s, who mobilized corporations in the United States and made maximizing intellectual property privileges the number one priority of trade policy in the United States (Braithwaite and Drahos, 2000, Chapter 7).

After the Uruguay round, the GATT became the basis for the establishment of the World Trade Organization. Because ratification of TRIPS is a compulsory requirement of World Trade Organization membership, any country seeking to obtain easy access to the numerous international markets opened by the World Trade Organization must enact the strict intellectual property laws mandated by TRIPS. For this reason, TRIPS is the most important multilateral instrument for the globalization of intellectual property laws. States like Russia and China that were very unlikely to join the Berne Convention have found the prospect of WTO membership a powerful enticement.

Furthermore, unlike other agreements on intellectual property, TRIPS has a powerful enforcement mechanism. States can be disciplined through the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism.

The requirements of TRIPS[link]

TRIPS requires member states to provide strong protection for intellectual property rights. For example, under TRIPS:

• Copyright terms must extend to 50 years after the death of the author. (Art. 12 and 14)^{[3][not in citation given]}
• Copyright must be granted automatically, and not based upon any "formality," such as registrations, as specified in the Berne Convention. (Art. 9)
• Computer programs must be regarded as "literary works" under copyright law and receive the same terms of protection.
• National exceptions to copyright (such as "fair use" in the United States) are constrained by the Berne three-step test
• Patents must be granted for "inventions" in all "fields of technology" provided they meet all other patentability requirements (although exceptions for certain public interests are allowed (Art. 27.2 and 27.3)^[4] and must be enforceable for at least 20 years (Art 33).
• Exceptions to exclusive rights must be limited, provided that a normal exploitation of the work (Art. 13) and normal exploitation of the patent (Art 30) is not in conflict.
• No unreasonable prejudice to the legitimate interests of the right holders of computer programs and patents is allowed.
• Legitimate interests of third parties have to be taken into account by patent rights (Art 30).
• In each state, intellectual property laws may not offer any benefits to local citizens which are not available to citizens of other TRIPS signatories under the principle of national treatment (with certain limited exceptions, Art. 3 and 5).^[5] TRIPS also has a most favored nation clause.

Many of the TRIPS provisions on copyright were copied from the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and many of its trademark and patent provisions were modeled on the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

Access to essential medicines[link]

The most visible conflict has been over AIDS drugs in Africa. Despite the role that patents have played in maintaining higher drug costs for public health programs across Africa, this controversy has not led to a revision of TRIPs. Instead, an interpretive statement, the Doha Declaration, was issued in November 2001, which indicated that TRIPs should not prevent states from dealing with public health crises. After Doha, PhRMA, the United States and to a lesser extent other developed nations began working to minimize the effect of the declaration.

A 2003 agreement loosened the domestic market requirement, and allows developing countries to export to other countries where there is a national health problem as long as drugs exported are not part of a commercial or industrial policy.^[6] Drugs exported under such a regime may be packaged or colored differently to prevent them from prejudicing markets in the developed world.

In 2003, the Bush administration also changed its position, concluding that generic treatments might in fact be a component of an effective strategy to combat HIV. Bush created the PEPFAR program, which received $15 billion from 2003–2007, and was reauthorized in 2008 for $48 billion over the next five years. Despite wavering on the issue of compulsory licensing, PEPFAR began to distribute generic drugs in 2004-5.

Software and business method patents[link]

Another controversy has been over the TRIPS Article 27 requirements for patentability "in all fields of technology", and whether or not this necessitates the granting of software and business method patents.

Implementation in developing countries[link]

The obligations under TRIPS apply equally to all member states, however developing countries were allowed extra time to implement the applicable changes to their national laws, in two tiers of transition according to their level of development. The transition period for developing countries expired in 2005. The transition period for least developed countries to implement TRIPS was extended to 2013, and until 1 January 2016 for pharmaceutical patents, with the possibility of further extension.^[7]

It has therefore been argued that the TRIPS standard of requiring all countries to create strict intellectual property systems will be detrimental to poorer countries' development.^[8] Many argue^[who?] that it is, prima facie, in the strategic interest of most if not all underdeveloped nations to use any flexibility available in TRIPS to legislate the weakest IP laws possible.^[who?]

This has not happened in most cases. A 2005 report by the WHO found that many developing countries have not incorporated TRIPS flexibilities (compulsory licensing, parallel importation, limits on data protection, use of broad research and other exceptions to patentability, etc.) into their legislation to the extent authorized under Doha.^[9]

This is likely caused by the lack of legal and technical expertise needed to draft legislation that implements flexibilities, which has often led to developing countries directly copying developed country IP legislation,^[10] or relying on technical assistance from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which, according to critics such as Cory Doctorow, encourages them to implement stronger intellectual property monopolies.

Post-TRIPS expansion[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2011)

The requirements of TRIPS are, from a policy perspective, extremely stringent. Despite this, lobbyists for the industries that benefit from various intellectual property laws have continued since 1994 to campaign to strengthen existing forms of intellectual property and to create new kinds:

• The creation of anti-circumvention laws to protect Digital Rights Management systems. This was achieved through the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WIPO Treaty) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
• The desire to further restrict the possibility of compulsory licenses for patents has led to provisions in recent bilateral US trade agreements.
• It is one thing for states to have intellectual property laws on their statutes, and another for governments to enforce them aggressively. This distinction has led to provisions in bilateral agreements, as well as proposals for WIPO and European Union rules on intellectual property enforcement. The 2001 EU Copyright Directive was to implement the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty.
• The wording of TRIPS Art 27 of non-discrimination is used to justify an extension of the patent system.
• The campaign for the creation of a WIPO Broadcasting Treaty that would give broadcasters (and possibly webcasters) exclusive rights over the copies of works they have distributed.

Panel reports[link]

According to WTO 10th Anniversary, Highlights of the first decade, Annual Report 2005 page 142,^[11] in the first ten years, 25 complaints have been lodged leading to the panel reports and appellate body reports on TRIPS listed below.

The WTO website has a gateway to all TRIPS disputes (including those that did not lead to panel reports) here [1].

• 2005 Panel Report:^[12]
  • European Communities - Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs.
• 2000 Panel Report:^[13] Part 2^[14] and 2000 Appellate Body Report^[15]
  • Canada - Term of Patent Protection.
• 2000 Panel Report, Part 1:^[16] and Part 2^[17]
  • United States - Section 110(5) of the US Copyright Act.
• 2000 Panel Report:^[18]
  • Canada - Patent Protection of Pharmaceutical Products.
• 2001 Panel Report:^[19] and 2002 Appellate Body Report^[20]
  • United States - Section 211 Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1998.
• 1998 Panel Report:^[21]
  • India - Patent Protection for Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Chemical Products.
• 1998 Panel Report:^[22]
  • Indonesia - Certain Measures Affecting the Automobile Industry.

Criticism[link]

Since TRIPS came into force it has received a growing level of criticism from developing countries, academics, and Non-governmental organizations. Some of this criticism is against the WTO as a whole, but many advocates of trade liberalization also regard TRIPS as bad policy (see, for example, Jagdish Bhagwati's In Defense of Globalization for a discussion on the detrimental effect of TRIPS on access to medicines in developing countries). TRIPS' wealth redistribution effects (moving money from people in developing countries to copyright and patent owners in developed countries) and its imposition of artificial scarcity on the citizens of countries that would otherwise have had weaker intellectual property laws, are a common basis for such criticisms.

Peter Drahos writes that "It was an accepted part of international commercial morality that states would design domestic intellectual property law to suit their own economic circumstances. States made sure that existing international intellectual property agreements gave them plenty of latitude to do so."^[23]

Daniele Archibugi and Andrea Filippetti^[24] argue that the importance of TRIPS in the process of generation and diffusion of knowledge and innovation has been overestimated by both their supporters and their detractors. Claude Henry and Joseph E. Stiglitz^[25] argue that the current intellectual property global regime may impede both innovation and dissemination, and suggest reforms to foster the global dissemination of innovation and sustainable development.

See also[link]

Related treaties and laws[link]

• Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
• EU Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRED)
• Patent Law Treaty (PLT)
• Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT)
• Uruguay Round Agreement Act of the United States (URAA)

Related organizations[link]

• Intellectual Property Committee
• World Trade Organization

Related topics[link]

• Confusing similarity
• Geographical Indication
• Intellectual property in the People's Republic of China
• List of international trade topics
• List of parties to international copyright agreements
• World Trade Organization Dispute 160

References[link]

1. Braithwaite and Drahos, Global Business Regulation, Cambridge University Press, 2000
2. Westkamp, 'TRIPS Principles, Reciprocity and the Creation of Sui-Generis-Type Intellectual Property Rights for New Forms of Technology' [2003] 6(6) The Journal of World Intellectual Property 827-859, ISSN: 1422-2213

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

• TRIPS agreement (PDF version)
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (html version)
• World Trade Organization links
  • World Trade Organization - Official Text
  • World Trade Organization - TRIPs gateway
• Audio presentation by Professor Susan Sell, George Washington University, on intellectual property rights in the global context.

Johnny Damon
Damon with the Rays on May 7, 2011
Cleveland Indians – No. 33
Outfielder / Designated hitter
Born: (1973-11-05) November 5, 1973 (age 38) Fort Riley, Kansas
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
August 12, 1995 for the Kansas City Royals
Career statistics (through May 22, 2012)
Batting average	.285
Hits	2,733
Home runs	231
Runs batted in	1,122
Runs scored	1,649
Stolen bases	404
Teams
Kansas City Royals (1995–2000) Oakland Athletics (2001) Boston Red Sox (2002–2005) New York Yankees (2006–2009) Detroit Tigers (2010) Tampa Bay Rays (2011) Cleveland Indians (2012–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (2002, 2005) 2× World Series champion (2004, 2009) TYIB Award: Best Postseason Moment (2009) Led AL in Runs Scored (2000) Led AL in Stolen Bases (2000) Led MLB in Triples (2002)

Johnny David Damon (born November 5, 1973) is an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter for the Cleveland Indians. In his Major League Baseball career, Damon has played for the Kansas City Royals (1995–2000), Oakland Athletics (2001), Boston Red Sox (2002–2005), New York Yankees (2006–2009), Detroit Tigers (2010), and Tampa Bay Rays (2011).

From 2000–2008, he was third among active players in runs (1,008) and seventh in hits (1,590) and stolen bases (392). He is currently second among active leaders in triples (109), one behind Carl Crawford.^[1] He is also fifth among active players in career hits with over 2,500.^[2]

Early years[link]

Damon was born in Fort Riley, an army base in Kansas.^[3] His mother, Yome, is from Thailand, and his father, Jimmy, is American of Croatian descent. They met while his father, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, was stationed in Thailand. Damon spent much of his early childhood as an "army brat," moving to several bases from Okinawa, Japan, to West Germany before his father left the Army and settled the family in the Orlando area while Damon was still a pre-schooler.^[4]

Damon was a quiet child, largely on account of a fluency disorder. "My thoughts just raced ahead of my tongue," says Damon of his problem then. "I’d sing songs as therapy, and I got better, but I just kept quiet most of the time." He played in Dr. Phillips Little League as a child.^[5] Damon attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida when during his senior year in 1992, he was rated the top high school prospect in the country by Baseball America, was named to USA Today's High School All-America team, and was the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year. Damon also played football in high school, once getting hit by Warren Sapp and sustaining the first concussion in his life.^{[citation needed]}

Playing career[link]

Kansas City Royals[link]

Damon was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the first round (35th overall) of the 1992 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut on August 12, 1995. He played for the Royals from 1995 to 2000. He scored 104 runs in 1998 and 101 runs in 1999. One of his best seasons came in 2000 when he led the American League in runs with 136 and stolen bases with 46, as he was second in hits (214), at bats (655), and plate appearances (741).[1]

Oakland Athletics[link]

Damon spent 2001 with the Oakland Athletics. In a three-way trade involving the A's, Royals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the A's received Damon along with pitcher Cory Lidle from the Devil Rays and second baseman Mark Ellis from the Royals. He was third in the league in at bats (644) and seventh in runs (108).

Boston Red Sox[link]

Damon at bat for the Red Sox in spring training 2005

Damon signed a four-year, $31 million contract with the Boston Red Sox on December 21, 2001.^[6]

In 2002 Damon led the league in triples (11), and was 3rd in infield hits (25). He became the first player selected by the fans in the inaugural American League All-Star Final Vote.^[7]

On June 27, 2003, Damon became only the second major leaguer since 1900 to record three base hits in an inning, when he did so against the Florida Marlins.^[8] Also, Damon suffered a head on collision with Damian Jackson. He had a concussion, while Jackson walked off the field fine.

In 2004, he was 2nd in the league in runs (123). Damon began to re-establish himself among the premier lead-off hitters and center fielders in the game. In arguably his best season in the Major Leagues, Damon batted .304 with 20 home runs and 94 RBIs, and showed improved patience at the plate. According to Damon's autobiography, he was only the 4th leadoff batter in the history of Major League Baseball to drive in more than 90 runs in a season. He was also a key player in helping the Boston Red Sox erase their eighty-six year Curse of the Bambino. In Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, Johnny Damon hit two home runs, one of them was a grand slam, to lead the Red Sox to victory over the Yankees. In the 2004 World Series he also hit a home run as the Boston Red Sox won the series against the St. Louis Cardinals within just 4 games.

Through his 4-year career with the Red Sox (2002–2005), Damon appeared in 597 games (590 in center field and seven as a designated hitter)^[9] and hit 56 home runs.^[10] Of his 2476 at bats, 2259 were as leadoff hitter. Damon batted 2nd in the lineup for 156 at bats in 2002, accounting for nearly all of the rest except for occasional pinch hit. He started two games as the #3 hitter in 2004. In 2005, he had 624 at bats, and all but three leading off. He also earned his 2nd All-Star selection, starting as the American League's center fielder.^[11] He led the AL with 35 infield hits,^[12] and matched the 35 doubles he'd hit in 2004.^[10]

New York Yankees[link]

Damon (center) with the Yankees

On December 20, 2005, Damon signed a four-year, $52 million contract with the New York Yankees.^[6] The Red Sox stood firm on a three-year contract and chose not to negotiate against a five-year deal proposed by agent Scott Boras. With the Yankees limited time offer and Boston general manager Theo Epstein's sudden resignation, Boras urgently attempted to contact team president Larry Luchino after failing to hear from the new co-general managers, but the Red Sox stood firm on their three-year offer.

Damon's signing with the Yankees led to his being subsequently vilified by many Red Sox fans because of his previously professed loyalty to the city and Red Sox organization, including his now infamous statement in May, 2005, where he claimed, "There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they're going to come after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need."^[13]

As the Yankees have a strict dress code for players forbidding both long hair and facial hair beyond neat mustaches, Damon had his shoulder-length "cave man" hair cut and beard shaved on December 22. Damon, who had a clean-cut appearance until his third season with the Red Sox, had been planning on cutting his hair and shaving his beard off even if he didn't sign with the Yankees, but waited until after he signed with them in order to prevent speculation.^[14][15][16]

Damon with the Yankees

In a pivotal 5-game series between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway Park, Damon went 3-for-6 in each of the first three games, including a doubleheader on Friday August 18, and a game on Saturday August 19. Damon hit two home runs, drove in eight runs, and scored eight runs in the first three games as the Yankees won by a combined score of 39–20 and dealt a severe blow to the Red Sox 2006 play-off aspirations.

In 2006 Damon finished 3rd in runs (115) and 9th in stolen bases (25) in the AL, while hitting 24 home runs, his career high. He also tied his mark of 35 doubles from the previous two seasons.^[10] He was only one of 4 players in the major leagues to hit at least 24 home runs and steal at least 24 bases.

On June 7, 2008, Damon went 6 for 6 in the Yankees 12–11 win over the Kansas City Royals, including a walk-off ground-rule double, which had bounced over the wall. He is the first Yankee to have six hits in a 9 inning game since Myril Hoag accomplished the feat in 1934.^[17] Damon said in a post-game on-field interview that this was his first walk-off as a Yankee.

The Yankees placed Damon on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his MLB career on July 6, 2008 with a bruised AC joint in his left shoulder. The injury occurred a day earlier when Damon collided with the outfield wall in an attempt to catch a triple. At that time, Damon was one of only three active major league ballplayers who had played at least 10 years in the majors without going on the disabled list. He returned to active duty, and hit 27 doubles for the season.^[10] Damon hit 53 home runs in his three complete seasons with the Yankees.^[10]

On July 27, 2009, Damon hit his 200th career home run against the Tampa Bay Rays' Brian Shouse. For the 2009 season, he batted .282, and led AL left fielders in errors (with 5), while he was 4th in the league in runs scored (107).[2]

Johnny Damon hit a home run in Games 3 and 4 of the 2009 ALCS, defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 6 games. Damon got his second championship ring as the Yankees would eventually defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2009 World Series in 6 games.

Damon, after winning his second World Series, entered free agency after the 2009 season despite expressing his desire to return to the Yankees.^[18] He insisted that the Yankees not even make him an offer, however, unless they pay him at least the $13 million he earned for the past four years.^[18] As a result of his contract demands, the Yankees signed 1B/DH Nick Johnson to a one-year/5.5MM deal, despite Damon lowering his salary demands at the last minute.^[19] The Yankees then signed outfielder Randy Winn to a one-year/2MM deal which essentially closed the door on Damon's return to the Bronx.^[20]

Detroit Tigers[link]

On February 22, 2010, Damon agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal with the Detroit Tigers.

On April 14, 2010, Damon recorded his 1,000th career RBI against the Kansas City Royals. On May 1, he hit a walk-off home run against Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Scot Shields at Comerica Park to win the game 3–2. On July 6, Damon recorded his 2,500th career hit off Jake Arrieta of the Baltimore Orioles, and hit a walk-off home run off David Hernandez, giving the Tigers a 7–5 win. For the season, he batted .271.^[21]

Damon became a free agent at the end of the season.

Tampa Bay Rays[link]

On January 21, 2011, Damon agreed to a one-year, $5.25 million deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays also signed his former Boston Red Sox teammate Manny Ramirez in a package deal suggested by agent Scott Boras.^[22][23]

Manager Joe Maddon said he expected the 37-year-old Damon to often be replaced by Sam Fuld during the season late in games that the Rays are leading.^[24] After Ramirez's abrupt retirement, this would be moot as Damon primarily would play as the designated hitter.

On April 16, 2011, Damon had the game-winning hit for the fifth consecutive game for the Rays, two of which were walkoff hits. On June 29, 2011 Damon tied Ted Williams for 71st on the all-time hit list with 2,654 hits. The hit came at Tropicana Field in the bottom of the 6th inning. On July 2, 2011, Damon went 4-for-4 and his first inning single moved him past Ted Williams on the all-time hit list. He would later pass Lou Gehrig, Dave Parker, Billy Williams, Doc Cramer, Gary Sheffield, Luis Aparicio, Fred Clarke, Max Carey, Nellie Fox, George Davis, Harry Heilmann, Bill Buckner and Rusty Staub, amongst others on the list, to finish the season 57th all-time with 2723 career hits.

In Game 1 of the ALDS, Damon hit a 2-run home run in the 2nd inning off Texas Rangers starting pitcher C.J. Wilson to give his team an early 2–0 lead. The Rays won the game 9–0, however they eventually lost the best-of-five divisional series 3–1.^[25]

Cleveland Indians[link]

On April 12, 2012, Damon signed a one-year minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians for $1.25 million (and an additional $1.4 million in incentives) .^[26] On May 1, Damon was called up to Cleveland.^[27] He made his debut on May 2, batting leadoff against the Chicago White Sox.^[28] He finished the game 0-3 with a walk.^[29] Indians manager Manny Acta dropped Damon to seventh in the batting lineup after going 4-29 in the leadoff position, including 2 hits in his last 18 at-bats.^[30]

Awards[link]

Other appearances[link]

In 2005, Damon wrote Idiot: Beating "The Curse" and Enjoying the Game of Life with Peter Golenbock.

Personal[link]

Damon (right) with Alex Rodriguez

Damon married his high school sweetheart, Angela Vannice, in 1992 when he was 19. They had twins together in 1999^[31] before divorcing in 2002. In 2004, Damon married Michelle Mangan, who gave birth to their first child in 2007.^[32] Johnny and Michelle welcomed their second daughter, Danica Rayne, in 2008.^[33]

Damon and his family reside in Windermere, Florida. While with the Yankees, Damon and his wife lived in Cresskill, New Jersey.^[34]

He is active with the Wounded Warrior Project, which works to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women. Damon has appeared on MTV Cribs where he gave a tour of his home near Orlando, Florida.

Damon was one of the victims of the $8 billion dollar fraud perpetrated by convicted wealth manager Allen Stanford.^[35]

Damon hosted WWE Raw on December 21, 2009.^[36]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal

• Top 300 home run hitters of all time
• List of Major League Baseball players with 2000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johnny Damon

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Johnny Damon

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Johnny Damon at the Internet Movie Database

Jennifer Lawrence
Lawrence at the 83rd Academy Awards, February 27, 2011
Born	Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (1990-08-15) August 15, 1990 (age 21) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence^[1] (born August 15, 1990) is an American film and television actress. She had lead roles in TBS's The Bill Engvall Show and in the independent films The Burning Plain and Winter's Bone, for which she received nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Satellite Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award. At age 20, she was the second youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She is also known for playing Mystique in X-Men: First Class. In 2012, Lawrence achieved wider recognition starring as the heroine Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel of the same name. Her performance in the film garnered her notable critical praise and marked her as the highest grossing action heroine of all time.^[2][3] Lawrence's performances thus far have prompted Rolling Stone to define her as "the most talented young actress in America."^[4]

Early life[link]

Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and has two older brothers. Her parents are Karen (née Koch), who runs a children's camp, and Gary Lawrence, who once owned a concrete construction firm, Lawrence & Associates.^[5][6][7] She acted in local theater^[8] and, by the age of 14, had decided to pursue an acting career, persuading her parents to take her to New York City to find a talent agent. Prior to finding success in Hollywood, Lawrence attended Kammerer Middle School. She graduated from high school two years early with a 3.9 average in order to begin a career in acting.^[5][9] While growing up and in between acting, Lawrence served as an assistant nurse at the children's summer day camp that her mother ran.^[10]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Lawrence had never taken any drama classes/lessons for acting.^[5] She started out her acting career in the TBS comedy The Bill Engvall Show, playing the eldest daughter of Lauren Pearson. Written and created by Bill Engvall and Michael Leeson, the show is set in a Denver suburb and follows the life of 'Bill Pearson' (played by Engvall), a family counselor whose own family could use a little dose of counseling. The series went on the air in September 2007 and was canceled in 2009 after three seasons. Lawrence received the Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in a TV Series for her role in the show.

Lawrence had guest-roles in the television series The Devil You Know, Cold Case, Medium, and Monk.^[11]

In 2008, she appeared in a small role in the film Garden Party as Tiff. It was directed by Jason Freeland. The same year, Lawrence appeared on the big screen in Guillermo Arriaga's film directorial debut The Burning Plain, opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her performance in the film earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young emerging actor/actress at the Venice Film Festival in 2008.^[12]

Still in 2008, Lawrence had the lead role in another film director's debut, Lori Petty's family drama The Poker House, opposite Selma Blair and Chloë Moretz, where she starred as Agnes, a young girl victim of abuse.^[13] Lawrence was awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival for Outstanding Performance for her role in the film. She appeared in the music video for the song "The Mess I Made", from the 2009 album Losing Sleep by Parachute.

2010–present[link]

Lawrence's lead role in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, which won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, is generally cited as a breakout performance for her.^[14] She portrays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year-old in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and her younger brother and sister. Ree then discovers that her father put their house and land up as a bond for a court appearance before he disappeared, and the family now faces eviction.^[15] The performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. David Denby, writing in The New Yorker, said "the movie would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic playing Ree."^[16] Peter Travers from the Rolling Stone also spoke highly of her and noted that "her performance is more than acting, it's a gathering storm. Lawrence's eyes are a roadmap to what's tearing Ree apart".^[17] Receiving accolades for her performance, Lawrence was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress on January 25, 2011, becoming the second-youngest actress to date to be nominated for the category,^[18] and also accrued nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Satellite Awards among others.

Lawrence had a role in The Beaver, a dark comedy starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson that was filmed in 2009, but which spent an extended period of time stalled due to controversies surrounding Gibson. It was released on May 6, 2011. Lawrence co-starred in the independent film Like Crazy, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and received a wider release by Paramount Pictures.^[19]

On June 18, 2011, it was announced that Lawrence was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In June 2011, she starred as shape-shifting villain Mystique alongside James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in X-Men: First Class,^[20] a prequel to the rest of the X-Men film series and will be reprising this role again in the sequel. Lawrence's Mystique is a younger version of the character played by Rebecca Romijn in earlier X-Men films.

She is also set to star alongside Elisabeth Shue in Mark Tonderai's thriller House at the End of the Street,^[21] which completed filming in 2010 and is in post-production.^[22]

Lawrence was cast in David O. Russell's The Silver Linings Playbook, opposite Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. She was originally cast to play "O" in the film Savages directed by Oliver Stone, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

In 2012, Lawrence replaced Angelina Jolie in Susanne Bier's period thriller, The Falling, based on the novel Serena by Ron Rash.^[23][24] She will be playing the role of Serena who learns that she can never bear her husband children and is set out to murder the woman who bore her husband an illegitimate son before their marriage.

[edit] The Hunger Games

In March 2011, Lawrence was offered the part of Katniss Everdeen in the film The Hunger Games, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. Despite being a fan of the books, Lawrence took three days to accept the role because she was initially intimidated by the size of the movie and what it may mean for her fame.^[25] She underwent extensive training to get in shape for the role, including stunt training, archery, rock and tree climbing, combat, running, parkour, pilates, and yoga.^[26][27] The film was released on March 23, 2012, and set the record for the third-largest opening weekend of all time, making a record-breaking $152.5 million in three days for a non-sequel film.^[28]

The fact that The Hunger Games emerged as a big box office hit with a female lead represents a dramatic shift for the action film genre because historically, among the "top 200 worldwide box-office hits ever ($350 million and up), not one has been built around a female action star" and for the first time ever, Lawrence contradicts that.^[29] She is currently the highest grossing action heroine.

Though the film generally received positive reviews, Lawrence's strong portrayal of Katniss Everdeen was the most highly praised with Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter saying Lawrence embodies Katniss, "just as one might imagine her from the novel" and "anchors" the whole film "with impressive gravity and presence", ultimately calling her "the ideal screen actress".^[30] Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times stated that Lawrence is the "best possible performer as Katniss and is the key factor in making 'Hunger Games' an involving popular entertainment with strong narrative drive that holds our attention".^[31] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert also agreed that "Lawrence is strong and convincing in the central role".^[32]

Lawrence will start filming the film adaptation of the second novel in the The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, this summer, which is scheduled to be released on November 23, 2013.^[33]

Personal life[link]

Lawrence lived in New York City for the first few years of her career, but now resides in Santa Monica, California.^[5] She likes to paint, knit sweaters and scarves, surf, and play the guitar.^[34][35] She has been dating English actor Nicholas Hoult since 2011.^[36]

Filmography[link]

References[link]