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Originally Posted by jtg  ^Interesting. Personally I think their use of it in consumer products hurts their brand. It is hard to take seriously when you see brands like Monster cable plastering it on their package to justify charging $200 for a $20 cable. Though, thats a different issue altogether.
Theres no way the consumer side of things has a primary goal of consistency if there are licensing fees though. Thats purely cash-cow  You dont "license" a certification, thats just renting an endorsement. |
Although, I do agree that there is a risk of devaluing the logo / brand, I believe the consumer program has brought many benefits to consumers and to the licensees.
For example, consider a product such as a consumer surround receiver: These products are very complicated, with many features and the integration of all these features in a product like this, is not easy (Dolby Digital, DTS, analog audio, analog video, digital video with audio, user interface, post processing, amplifiers, speaker configurations, switching etc). THX's work has been key to manufactures, and the various competitive audio / video formats, to make products that are both user friendly and have a high level of performance. It is important to point out, that these standards and benefits have also worked their way into non THX products, so the industry as whole benefits from this.
Because the THX certified consumer products incorporate technologies which are owned by THX (see the link in my previous post), they need to be licensed to the manufacturers. This is not a "cash-cow", but is essential to THX having a sustainable business model. They are not a not-for-profit organization, although they did recently launch one:
http://www.thxbpl.org/
Anyway, just trying to give the THX point of view... ...not that I represent them, anymore.
Cheers!