Nintendo to End Support for Original NES

[Epsi]

Nintendo has reportedly decided to stop all repairs of the original Nintendo after 24 years of support, Agence France Presse reported on Friday. A spokesperson said that the company has decided to end support due to increasingly short supplies of replacement parts. The iconic game system was sold as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US and Europe, and as the Famicom in Japan.

Nintendo's Ken Toyoda said that while the company is sad to turn its back on the NES, the company wanted its legions of loyal fans to focus on the Wii, currently the best selling next-generation console worldwide. Nexgenwars.com, a tracker of game console sales, says the Wii has shipped 12.26 million consoles, compared to 12.2 million for the Xbox 360 and nearly 5.08 million for the PS3.

Source

And after this news was released, this subject come up.

NES – Expired Patents Do Not Mean Expired Protection

[Jale]

And after this news was released, this subject come up.

NES – Expired Patents Do Not Mean Expired Protection

That's right. Copyright protection lasts up to 70 years.