Richer, Wiser, Happier Trademark Registration
Not long ago, the universe introduced me to William Green’s Richer, Wiser, Happier book and related podcast. They are outstanding in every way.
Mr. Green is a financial journalist who has written for Time, Fortune, Forbes, and The New Yorker. He interviews the world’s best investors, including: Sir John Templeton, Charlie Munger, Jack Bogle, Ed Thorp, Monish Pabrai, Joel Greenblatt, and Howard Marks. From these and many others, Mr. Green gleans and shares a variety of mental models, philosophies, spiritual principles, virtues, habits, and rules meant to support a richer, wiser, and happier life. His English accent (when audio applies) definitely helps this medicine go down smoothly.
To me, it seems that Mr. Green approaches investing as a backdrop for discovering and exploring the transcendent principles of life. It’s apparent that he’s not just talking to people who focus on money, but rather people who have aligned themselves more deeply with positive and powerful principles. I’ve read and gifted the Richer, Wiser, Happier book to friends and family several times. I never miss the podcast when a new episode comes out (about once or twice a month).
Some of my favorite principles from the Richer, Wiser, Happier book:
- Borrow others’ good ideas.
- Live by an inner score card; be willing to be lonely in your thinking and positions.
- Cultivate self-awareness, discipline, and humility.
- Know that everything changes.
- Be resilient and maintain a margin of safety.
- Simplify.
- Focus; subtract and avoid distractions.
- Defer gratification.
- Aggregate habits that provide marginal advantages over time.
- Safeguard against biases, standard stupidities, and misbehavior.
- Seek, consider, and account for disconfirming evidence.
- Know that certain states result in poor decision-making: hunger, anger, loneliness, tiredness, pain, and stress (acronym HALT-PS)
- Be able to take pain and cope well with adversity.
- Above all, be kind, grateful, and loving.
Likewise, some of my favorite interviews from Mr. Green’s podcast:
- Pico Iyer – travel writer and minimalist with a Zen Buddhist bent: Beyond Rich episode;
- Arnold Van Den Berg – investor with an inspiring life story of overcoming extreme adversity, embracing positive thinking, and exercising on a trampoline: From Poverty to Power episode;
- Annie Duke – world champion poker player, author, and decision-making strategist: A Gambler’s Guide to Investing and Life episode;
- Howard Marks – founder of Oaktree Capital Management: Investing Wisely in an Uncertain World episode;
- Michael Berg – Kabbalah scholar: The Path of Abundance episode; and
- Aswath Domodaran: NYU finance professor and valuation guru: Meet the Master episode.
I so enjoy Mr. Green’s work, that, on a whim, I reached out to him last year. He kindly responded. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to have some very meaningful conversations with him, for which I am grateful. Since I’m a nosey trademark attorney, I learned that Mr. Green had not yet obtained a federal trademark registration for his Richer, Wiser, Happier brand. I was lucky to get the green light to help out. I performed trademark clearance searching, infringement risk analysis, and drafted, filed and prosecuted a trademark application. We recently obtained the federal trademark registration for the brand for podcasting services, which issued as U.S. Reg. No. 7,344,308. (As a quirk of federal trademark law, one cannot obtain a trademark for a single book title, although one can do so for a series of books.)
It’s really rewarding to participate in things I feel personally invested in and that are making a difference in the world. I would certainly place William Green and Richer, Wiser, Happier in that category. I hope that Mr. Green continues his good work for many years to come. I depend on his new content for my long drives to southern Utah! William Green’s personal website is www.williamgreenwrites.com.
