A CNBC Host Who Trademarked ‘Trust The Process’ Is Ready To Battle Joel Embiid Over It

During the darkest days of the Sam Hinkie era, Trust The Process became a rallying cry for those Sixers fans that were still watching the team every night, trying to figure out what few players in what felt like a never ending rotation of non-NBA talent would be foundational pieces.

Joel Embiid became the player to start lifting the Sixers out of that pit of despair, with spectacular play and a full-on embrace of Sixers fans who latched on to him as the franchise’s savior. He dubbed himself The Process, happily taking the weight of those expectations that he would be the player to bring them back and, while Hinkie was ousted before seeing the fruits of his labor, Embiid and Ben Simmons led them to the playoffs a year ago.

The Sixers themselves begrudgingly embraced the Trust The Process mantra, recognizing it was an unstoppable freight train, and recently Embiid has taken to rocking the phrase on his Under Armour shoes.

As Darren Rovell notes in his tweet, Embiid is exploring trademark possibilities for Trust The Process, but he may run into an issue there — and with his TTP branded merch plans with Under Armour. Marcus Lemonis, who hosts The Profit on CNBC, apparently already has a trademark on Trust The Process, using the phrase on his show, and took to Twitter to alert Embiid, the Sixers, and Under Armour that he was prepared to fight for his trademark.

I’m not going to pretend to know trademark law well enough to know exactly when and where a trademark is applicable and whether there is a spot for Embiid to have his own protections on the phrase for certain uses. Whatever the case, Embiid and all parties around him will have to figure this out or adjust their branding appropriately.