Patents last 20 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_patent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_patent The SNES came out in 1990: https://en.wikipe

Patents last 20 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_patent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_patent The SNES came out in 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_S... Every patent on the original SNES should have expired by 2010.