The Electronic Frontier Foundation has listed Nintendo as one of its "Wanted", what they describe as "the ten most-wanted patents -- the ones that pose the biggest threat to the public domain."
After a few months of collecting evidence, the EFF will submit a request to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to attempt to have the patent overturned.
The EFF claims Nintendo's patent "threatens reverse engineering of videogames to promote interoperability and emulation by hobbyists and entrepreneurs like Crimson Fire Entertainment and Gambit Studios."
Crimson Fire Entertainment is responsible for developing Firestorm gbaZ, a Game Boy Advance Emulator for the Tapwave Zodiac and PalmOS 5. For $19.99, it is advertised that gamers are able to emulate any Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, or Game Boy title. Gambit Studios produces the Liberty Game Boy Emulator for PalmOS, which is said to support software for the GBC and the original Game Boy. Gambit sells the Liberty program for $16.95.
According to Nintendo of America's FAQ, "The introduction of emulators created to play illegally copied Nintendo software represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers. As is the case with any business or industry, when its products become available for free, the revenue stream supporting that industry is threatened. Such emulators have the potential to significantly damage a worldwide entertainment software industry which generates over $15 billion annually, and tens of thousands of jobs."
If these vintage titles are available far and wide, it undermines the value of this intellectual property and adversely affects the right owner," the Nintendo FAQ continues. "As a copyright owner, and creator of such famous characters, only Nintendo has the right to benefit from such valuable assets."