playmessiah.com— Now that the patent has run out on the Famicon (NES) other companies can now produce the console. Here is a link to one such company.
Sep 12, 2005View in Crawl 4
I was always under the impression that patents lasted 70 years after the patenter's death, or 90 - 120 years for anonymous patenters, maybe i am thinking of trademarks or copyrights.Oh well.
I've actually purchased one of these sexy consoles, I was supposed to get my preorder at the Classic Gaming Expo, but unfortunetely they didn't have them. It really pissed me off, that I have to wait until October to get this when I preordered it months ago... The controllers work great on my classic NES though, and surely will work just as great if not better with this.
Patents last 20 year. Most of the patents for the Famicom (1983) expired back in 2003 and that's why Nintendo stopped building the original hardware. They no longer could legally protect the hardware beyond trademark law for the system name. A few components such as the 10NES lockout chip remained patented for the US hardware (1985) but those are all expired now.The NES is now fair game. Anyone can do whatever they want with it short of copying the trademarked names or the software.The Genesis patents should expire sometime around 1988 and 1989 and the SNES around 1990 or so. Depends what exact year the stuff was patented. Later this year most of the Patents on the Japanese SEGA Master system (1985) will expire with any US patents (1986) expiring sometime in 2006.
ever since i was a young fella i played the NES that my uncle owned, i always wanted a NES but by the time i was old enough the NES couldnt be bought anymore it was the SNES that was sold so i was totalled bummed coz the SNES like was ok but was nothin compared with the NES haha, anyway years and years of searching for a NES one day i had a novel idea of looking on EBAY for a NES and i found loads and loads of the things and there is no short supply of games on ebay either that is for sure. I purchased a NES for $50 unrefurbished with 11 games an 2 controllers, i refurbished the NES my self purchasing a 72 pin connector for about $10, and now the games work and it is great. I have an XBOX 360 a Wii and a PS3 (nerdy huh? lol) but the NES is something i will always play. I reckon that someone instead of me coz im a lazy an couldnt be bothered, but find someway to synchronise the NES with a PC, installing a hard drive on the nes and just getting games for the NES off the internet good idea huh?? hahaha well i think it is anyway.the NES will never die as long as there are people out there who love playing mario, double dragon, zelda etc.
an companys that make cheap imitations of NES, will never compare to an Original NES, like who wants to tell people oh yea i got a rip off old school nintendo, sounds like a piece of junk an a waste of money hahaha
if you have an old NES but cant get it too work an dont want to touch it yourself there are people out there who will refurbish your nintendo for a small fee, F*CK cheap imitations
bobetrSep 13, 2005
This account has been closed by the user
jackandcokeSep 13, 2005
I was always under the impression that patents lasted 70 years after the patenter's death, or 90 - 120 years for anonymous patenters, maybe i am thinking of trademarks or copyrights.Oh well.
matt72186Sep 13, 2005
I've actually purchased one of these sexy consoles, I was supposed to get my preorder at the Classic Gaming Expo, but unfortunetely they didn't have them. It really pissed me off, that I have to wait until October to get this when I preordered it months ago... The controllers work great on my classic NES though, and surely will work just as great if not better with this.
Closed AccountSep 13, 2005
f**kin $60? they're out their damn minds. should be half that.
kornmoshpittSep 13, 2005
hey guys, look free ipod but no offers or credit cards all u have to do i answer 10 questions takes one minute,its worth it for an iod isnt it, help someone out <a class="user" href="http://promo.glam.com/?r=YUFyRhUnJRiTA1sCBCME">http://promo.glam.com/?r=YUFyRhUnJRiTA1sCBCME</a>
generalleoffSep 13, 2005
Patents last 20 year. Most of the patents for the Famicom (1983) expired back in 2003 and that's why Nintendo stopped building the original hardware. They no longer could legally protect the hardware beyond trademark law for the system name. A few components such as the 10NES lockout chip remained patented for the US hardware (1985) but those are all expired now.The NES is now fair game. Anyone can do whatever they want with it short of copying the trademarked names or the software.The Genesis patents should expire sometime around 1988 and 1989 and the SNES around 1990 or so. Depends what exact year the stuff was patented. Later this year most of the Patents on the Japanese SEGA Master system (1985) will expire with any US patents (1986) expiring sometime in 2006.
eclectroSep 13, 2005
patents 20 years. Copyrights at least 95. Copyright is busted.
oohbattmanSep 13, 2005
What i would like is a NES controler that works with ROMS on the PC.
n3ldanSep 15, 2005
"the patent ran out on this digg a few months ago"I actaully LOL'ed.
crazyguySep 30, 2005
you just can't beat the original though. There is this store in my town where the sell the original NES for $34. Awesome.
psyke69Sep 3, 2008
ever since i was a young fella i played the NES that my uncle owned, i always wanted a NES but by the time i was old enough the NES couldnt be bought anymore it was the SNES that was sold so i was totalled bummed coz the SNES like was ok but was nothin compared with the NES haha, anyway years and years of searching for a NES one day i had a novel idea of looking on EBAY for a NES and i found loads and loads of the things and there is no short supply of games on ebay either that is for sure. I purchased a NES for $50 unrefurbished with 11 games an 2 controllers, i refurbished the NES my self purchasing a 72 pin connector for about $10, and now the games work and it is great. I have an XBOX 360 a Wii and a PS3 (nerdy huh? lol) but the NES is something i will always play. I reckon that someone instead of me coz im a lazy an couldnt be bothered, but find someway to synchronise the NES with a PC, installing a hard drive on the nes and just getting games for the NES off the internet good idea huh?? hahaha well i think it is anyway.the NES will never die as long as there are people out there who love playing mario, double dragon, zelda etc.
psyke69Sep 3, 2008
an companys that make cheap imitations of NES, will never compare to an Original NES, like who wants to tell people oh yea i got a rip off old school nintendo, sounds like a piece of junk an a waste of money hahaha
psyke69Sep 3, 2008
if you have an old NES but cant get it too work an dont want to touch it yourself there are people out there who will refurbish your nintendo for a small fee, F*CK cheap imitations
vikingscoolSep 1, 2009
2011.